Kutaisi International Airport officially reopened on Wednesday after the completion of its extension, which has increased the transport hub’s passenger capacity fourfold.
The reopening of the Kutaisi International Airport, following a large extension designed by UNStudio, was marked by an official ceremony on June 9.
The newly expanded airport can now cater to more than 2.5 million travellers per year, an increase of more than four times the passenger capacity of the previous terminal, which was also designed by our team.
Following the extension, the area of the terminal increased from 4,800sqm to 30,000sqm, while the number of check-in desks has increased from 10 to 18 (including two baggage drop-off desks). The number of border checkpoints has increased from 6 to 11 in the arrivals zone, and from 8 to 14 on the take-off side, while the commercial space has increased from 200m2 to 2,000m2.
Newly Expanded Kutaisi International Airport Officially Reopened
The former airport was completed in September 2012 after an ambitious one-year design and build period. Our team designed the entire development, including a revision of the runway, the master plan for the landscape, the terminal building, offices, a meteorological station and the air traffic control tower.
After its initial opening, the airport was voted one of the 14 most beautiful airports in the world by real estate and urban design network Curbed.
The airport quickly saw footfall increase from 12,915 passengers in 2012 to more than 300,000 in 2016. This figure was predicted to reach 1 million by 2020 (before the Covid-19 pandemic). In order to facilitate this predicted growth, UNStudio was invited in 2017 to design a large extension to the existing terminal.
By the end of 2021, the airport will be serving destinations including Warsaw, Vilnius, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Dortmund, Memmingen, Athens, Budapest, Rome and Abu Dhabi.
Find out more about the project here.
Explore our other infrastructure projects here.
Photos: United Airports of Georgia
