Georgia Anticipates Attracting International Business With New Ultra-Modern Airport
February 10, 2012 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Rendering of the exterior area of the soon-to-be-built King David the Builder International Airport in Kutaisi, Georgia. Image courtesy of UNStudio.
Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili – who symbolically participated in the demolition of the old airport building by tearing down one of the walls with the help of heavy machinery – anticipates that the new airport will act both as a stimulator for new businesses in the country and as a hub between the European and Asian markets.
The new King David the Builder International Airport and observation tower will be among the largest scale and “most distinguished” projects going on in Georgia today, said the president.
The new airport’s name is in honor of Georgia’s King David IV who ruled between the 11th and 12th century. The country reached its political and economic peak during his reign, only to later fall into seemingly unending occupations, civil unrest, and economic crisis.
After the Rose Revolution in 2003, the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms, and the country is now trying to make strides towards reaching its former glories.
The new King David airport will be located in Kutaisi, which is the second largest city in Georgia and where the new parliament building is now being built. Kutaisi is just 221 km west of Tbilisi, which is the capital and the country’s largest city.
The new airport has been designed by the Dutch architectural company UNStudio, which said that the airport will have a clear structural layout creating an all-encompassing and protective space.
The space will be structured around a central exterior which will be used for departing passengers. The transparent space around this central point will be “designed to ensure that the flows of passengers are smooth and that departure and arrival flows do not coincide,” said the design company.