Review of Georgian Airways flight from Tbilisi to Amsterdam in Business

TGZ

A9 - Georgian Airways

Flight taken on 25 August 2025
A9651
06:40 05h 00m 09:40
Class Business
Seat 1F
LostLuggage
587 · 13 · 2 · 16

Hello all. Welcome to this quick write-up on a slightly unusual airline and route I was lucky enough to try out this summer.

With an excess of annual leave and no time during my preferred Sep-Oct window for European travel, I found myself a "reasonable" priced set of flights out to Georgia - a country that has long held my fascination and been creeping ever higher on my to-do list. I actually started my journey from my local airport (BRS) courtesy of Pegasus' new route to Istanbul for around £170, however as my return date fell firmly in the final week of UK summer holidays my journey back was cursed to be far pricier.

Tbilisi is served by a number of European airlines, namely both BA and Easyjet with new direct routes to LHR and LTN respectively. Both were asking in excess of £500 one-way during my date range, so a transit somewhere was inevitable. Turkish, LOT and Lufthansa were all in the £300-400 range which still left a bitter taste in the mouth considering these same routes are typically below £150 just a few weeks later. So when a £350 business class fare via AMS with Georgian Airways and KLM emerged, it made parting with that sort of money for a "European" flight feel slightly less painful, with the added bonus of keeping my Flying Blue miles valid for a further 18 months.


Tbilisi International Airport


What many airlines have in common flying in and out of Georgia are horribly antisocial arrival and departure times. Due to its location between Europe and the Middle East, flights are scheduled to best coincide with their hub airport's onward connections rather than prioritising local timings - understandable given the limited connectivity to this part of the world.

Having arrived at 03:25am in Kutaisi at the start of my trip, it was only fitting that my departure started with a 4am alarm too. Unlike Kutaisi, it was a breeze to pre-book a Bolt cab for my ride to the airport at this time of day. Located about 20 minutes outside the city centre without traffic, I was promptly dropped outside the modest terminal building at 04:25 for check-in.


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A healthy but not overwhelming bank of departures made for quite a busy terminal this morning. I located the Georgian Airways desks and was taken aback by just how long the queue was, especially given that this is the only departure of theirs until 08:45. The late summer holiday rush and seeming popularity of this KLM codeshare meant today's flight was absolutely chokka.

My business class perks started paying for themselves immediately by propelling me to the front of the queue, where I was seen by the next available agent. I booked this flight directly on KLM's website under a KL code, and hadn't been able to access the booking at all via Georgian's rather basic website, including for online check-in.

I'd hoped to switch from my LHR connection to the BRS one during my layover, so was taking my main backpack on board as a carry-on which the agent seemed fine with despite its size. She also gave me a choice of window or aisle seats - I chose window. I was given both boarding passes and an enveloped invitation to the Primeclass lounge. This was welcome, as I believe the only other A9 business class review on this site was not given lounge access in TBS.


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I promptly headed up towards departures - the remaining queue for check in extended well beyond double what's pictured above, and was still growing.

Security and immigration awaited on the upper floor, which were split between the normal lanes and a "Primeclass Fast Track" one. The agent hadn't said anything about fast track security, but given it was the same branding as the lounge I thought I'd give it a go. As I was scanned and accepted into the lane by another agent, I noticed a small sign that listed all the nationalities eligible for Fast Track immigration - British not being one of them. Oh well, too late to turn back now.

The security lane was deserted, and had it not been for the agents wanting to empty my entire toiletries bag to check the size of some nail scissors I'd have been through in under 30 seconds. Next came the immigration check, which stamped me out of Georgia in under a minute despite the aforementioned list of eligible nationalities. If it hadn't been for the lounge entrance being almost too close to the Fast Track lane exit and my spending ten minutes wandering the terminal to find it, I'd have completed the whole process from security to the lounge in under two minutes.


Primeclass Lounge


I'd enjoyed Primeclass lounges before, and this one certainly felt new and fresh upon entering. There is a main "terrace" area that's open to the terminal but set behind ~8ft opaque walls, featuring a mixture of table and lounge seating with a bar in the far corner. Adjacent to this space is the enclosed area containing the food and drinks, as well as a separate annex reserved for holders of a certain local credit card. As far as I could tell this area featured nothing of note compared to the main lounge beyond physical separation.


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With the clocks now striking 5am it made sense that the food offerings were predominantly breakfast-oriented with pastries and fruits, but I was glad to find some proper hot food offerings too given I hadn't eaten properly the evening before. In what would usually have been a far too heavy meal for this hour, I opted for some rice and meatballs with a side of the Georgian eggplant rolls I'd enjoyed so regularly during my trip.

The selection of juices was good, but the coffee from machines was bang average and actually put me off slamming my typical 2-3 cups I'd usually have after such an early start. Wifi was also available and worked better than many places I'd encountered.


photo 20250825_045754

As boarding time came around, I noticed the trickle of fellow Brits join me in the lounge thanks to the BA departure about half an hour after mine. In a lounge that was otherwise entirely filled with travellers from Russia, Turkey and the Gulf, we really did stick out.


Boarding


No announcements for boarding were made but the FIDS screen soon showed us to head to Gate 100B.

It's a small, single-terminal airport so the walk took less than 5 minutes to find a scrum of people where a boarding queue may often be found. After taking a seat away from the melee an announcement was made that this was in fact not going to be the gate, and that everywhere should in fact head downstairs. The PA was so loud and tinny that I didn't even catch the new gate, but instead just followed the masses down a set of stairs towards what I assumed was now going to be a bus gate.

I'd never seen so many people revert so instantly to sheer panic - families started screaming to each other and a few passengers took the gate change to put their risk of missing the flight so high that they now needed to sprint the 200m down to the new one.

These tarmac level bus gate ironically reminded me of the Embraer gates at AMS where I'd be in about 8 hours time. No groups or cabins were prioritised when boarding was finally called, so I got up to have my boarding pass scanned only to be informed that business class had "a special bus" and to take a seat again as they'd call us when that bus was ready. Why this wasn't announced by PA I don't know, as the gate agents instead waited until they came across business class passengers in the general queue only to tell them they can sit back down again.


photo 20250825_062409-17914

Anyway, I was in no rush and quite happy to experience my first business class-dedicated boarding bus. I'm sure there wouldn't have been enough seats in the minivan had the cabin been full, but our ride suited the party just fine. I noticed most fellow passengers were connecting onwards from AMS like myself, predominantly to North America with KLM or Delta.

I'm pleased to report that airport tarmac driving in Georgia maintains all the hallmarks and characteristics of driving outside airports does. I became very well acquainted with my seatmate as the minivan weaved through the airport's remote stands to our ride.


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Today's ride was to be 4L-NIK; a 15-year old Boeing 737-700 that had spent its career up to 2021 flying for SAS before joining Georgian in 2022. It's one of two -700 frames in their current fleet, with the rest being comprised of -300 and -800 variants plus an oddball CRJ-200 and 767-300 to make up what is really quite a small airline. I'd seen reports from a few years back of the former Omni Air 767 being used on the AMS route, however this year it seems entirely limited to TLV and back.

This one shares its name with the country's capital and today's departure city.


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I was the first aboard and greeted by the cabin crew. I'd be interested to know if this aircraft featured a full recliner seat business cabin during its SAS days or if Georgian proactively retrofitted these seats in order to offer a more premium product, but either way I was very happy to have more than a blocked economy middle seat for the next five hours.

(Picture taken after arrival in AMS - it was spotlessly clean on boarding)


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Georgian Airways flight 651


A small pillow and lightweight blanket awaited on each seat. I'm a big fan of the bright red branded headrest covers giving the cabin some personality, as I was having 3 windows to call my own in this very front row. What I was less a fan of was the limited footroom (not legroom) in this front row - as evidenced by the bulkhead magazine holders all being stretched outwards through use as improvised footrests - and the recline barely reaching 1-2 inches max.

I'm not sure if the latter was just my seat being old or faulty, but I didn't notice anyone else's moving much further. Fortunately my seatmate moved back to the empty row behind, so I was able to stretch out into what had been her space before. But considering domestic US First Class and long-haul premium economy seats seem to recline to 5-8 inches nowadays, this felt a little limiting. The seats did not feature leg rests in any row either.


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Water bottles were handed out before the remaining passengers' bus arrived, and the cabin crew kindly stowed both my bags in the overhead compartments. With 4 empty seats in the cabin, my oversized backpack still had a lot of space up above (more than could be said for the packed E195 I'd later board).

With tiredness now firmly catching up with me, the remaining boarding and pushback became quite a blur. A conventional safety demonstration ensued and we eventually took off about 35 minutes late - I've no recollection of why.


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We turned west out of Tbilisi, skirting south of the city centre and onwards to the Georgian coast. I followed in the steps of many a 1F passenger before me and improvised the magazine holder into a footrest, promptly falling asleep before we even passed my trip's start point in Kutaisi.

I came round about 3 hours later after various spells of broken sleep and reshuffling in the seat. It sounds like I'm giving it a bad rep but it was genuinely appreciated - there's just only so good a sleep I can get in any upright position.

Despite conking out before the breakfast service even had a chance to start, the FA didn't hesitate to offer me a breakfast after seeing that I'd woken up. This was a really pleasant surprise as I really wasn't expecting one having slept through the main service.


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Whilst not going to win any culinary awards or Michelin write-ups, it was good get something in my stomach. The sweet rice dish turned out to be exactly what I needed - a full cooked breakfast would've been far too heavy. I made slow but steady progress through the cheese and fruit, leaving the bun and most of the muffin, both of which were too dry. Water, juices and coffee were offered too, though the latter definitely tasted like a Nescafe sachet.

Now passing somewhere north of Croatia, I spent the rest of the flight in a sleepy daze and amusing the FA with my attempts at finding a new resting position every 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately mainland Europe was predominantly cloudy today, with things only clearing up as we circled over the Dutch coast as part of the descent.


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A classic Polderbaan arrival awaited, concluding a 4 hour and 46 minute flight from Tbilisi. After taxiing what felt like half the way back to Georgia, we were blessed with an airbridge gate and parted ways with the cabin crew shortly after.

A 3.5 hour connection awaited me before my LHR flight, and I'm pleased to report that lounge access in AMS is still included in these A9/KL codeshare tickets despite KLM's introduction of "business lite" fares as standard. I was scanned into the Crown Lounge 52 after a painless run through transit security, where I was given a KLM branded boarding pass to replace the one I was given in Tbilisi for some reason.

I beelined to the service desk but was promptly informed the BRS flight was overbooked by 8 people, so not a chance in hell was I getting on it. Nothing else to do but drink my ticket's value in barista-made coffees and look forward to the Flixbus ride that'd now definitely conclude my Georgian ventures.

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Georgian Airways 5.5

  • Cabin8.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew8.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi2.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering4.0 / 10
Departure airport

Tbilisi - TBS9.0

  • Efficiency10.0 / 10
  • Access8.0 / 10
  • Services9.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness9.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Amsterdam - AMS9.0

  • Efficiency8.0 / 10
  • Access9.5 / 10
  • Services9.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness9.5 / 10

Conclusion

Under typical circumstances, I'd never pay this sort of money for what is at best a medium-haul journey. However, given Georgian's onboard product and the lounge access in both departure and transit airports, I actually deem what I paid to be fair value considering that every other carrier (except TK) will have you in an economy seat on similar routes.

The cabin is definitely a generation or two old at this point but offered well above average space. I wish I could remember more about the crew but they were perfectly pleasant if not outstanding. The catering... well, that's the one area I'd say they could do a lot more with just a little improvement, especially given how great food in Georgia can be.

All in all however, a really enjoyable experience on board what is quite an exotic little airline.

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Comments (2)

  • Thanks for this interesting and exotic report on a rare-ish carrier! Aside from the novelty of flying Georgian Airways, the product isn't particularly exciting, but it is nice to have a real business recliner seat on an intra-European medium-haul flight, as that's quite rare.

    I'd be interested to know if this aircraft featured a full recliner seat business cabin during its SAS days or if Georgian proactively retrofitted these seats in order to offer a more premium product

    Georgian added them after acquiring the aircraft to have a consistent product with their other 737-700. The Economy cabin is still the original SAS seats.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • Thanks for the reply, Kevin! I was definitely glad for the "proper" business class set up given the price paid and flight time, and of course the novelty of ticking off a slightly unusual airline.

      Good to know about the hybrid former SAS cabin - clearly I didn't make it as far back as row 4 this time!

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