Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Tbilisi International Airport, also known as Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport, lies some 17 kilometres southeast of the Georgian capital and is the busiest airport in the country. It offers a long ILS-equipped main runway capable of handling the largest airliners, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for simulator pilots flying into the Caucasus.
Tbilisi International Airport (ICAO: UGTB, IATA: TBS) serves the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and is the country's principal international gateway. It is operated by TAV Airports Holding, part of Groupe ADP, and acts as a hub for the national flag carrier Georgian Airways as well as MyWay Airlines and Camex. In 2015 the Tbilisi City Assembly named the airport after the medieval Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli. For a sim pilot, it offers a substantial ILS-served runway, a busy mix of airline and cargo traffic, and a setting amid the Caucasus that makes for an interesting approach and departure environment.
The airport sits about 17 kilometres southeast of central Tbilisi, with the Kakheti Highway (George W. Bush Avenue) running from the field into the city. As Georgia's main international airport, it lies within controlled airspace appropriate to a large international aerodrome, and pilots should expect to work with approach control before joining the pattern.
Tbilisi has two parallel hard-surfaced runways aligned 13/31. The main runway, 13R/31L, is 9,833 feet long, lit, and equipped with an ILS. The second runway, 13L/31R, is 8,388 feet long and lit but without an ILS. Both are suitable for a wide range of aircraft types given the airport's international traffic.
Pilots can expect to work Tbilisi's approach control on 127.2 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 132.8 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 119 MHz, and the tower frequency is 128 MHz. The main runway, 13R/31L, carries an instrument landing system, and the instrument landing system on this runway was upgraded during a 2016 renovation of the airfield lighting and navigation equipment.
The airport's first terminal building dates from 1952 and was built in the Stalinist architectural style, with a symmetric floor plan and a monumental portico; it now serves as a VIP lounge. A second terminal, designed by chief architect Vladimer Beridze and completed in 1968 in the International Style, is likewise no longer in public use. In 1981 Tbilisi was the twelfth-largest airport in the Soviet Union, handling almost 1.5 million passengers on flights linking it to other Soviet republics. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the subsequent civil war and economic crisis, passenger numbers fell to just 230,000 by 1998. TAV Airports Holding has operated the airport since October 2005, with its concession extended to at least 2027. A US$90.5 million reconstruction project, completed in February 2007, delivered a new international terminal, apron and taxiway improvements, and runway upgrades, raising annual capacity to 2.8 million passengers and financed in part by the International Finance Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2016 the main runway was renovated with new navigation lighting, runway guard lights and holding-point guidance signs, alongside an upgrade to the instrument landing system.
Tbilisi International Airport remains Georgia's busiest airport, handling 4.75 million passengers in 2024, and is served by around 30 to 35 airlines flying to roughly 25 to 45 destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. It functions as a hub for Georgian Airways, MyWay Airlines and Camex, and continues to see cargo operations alongside scheduled passenger services. TAV Airports Holding has previously discussed further reconstruction of the airport's second runway to bring it up to a standard capable of accepting very large aircraft types.
