David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport — Kopitnari, Georgia

KUT honors David the Builder, a medieval Georgian king credited with unifying the country and ushering in what many Georgians regard as a golden age nearly a thousand years ago, a legacy still celebrated prominently across the nation. The airport sits near Kopitnari village outside Kutaisi, Georgia's second-largest city and, at various points in history, capital of both the unified Georgian kingdom and the separate Kingdom of Imereti. What transformed this once-sleepy regional field was the arrival of budget carrier Wizz Air, which built a substantial base here and turned KUT into an unexpectedly major gateway connecting Georgia to dozens of European cities at low fares. That shift helped fuel a broader tourism boom across the country, drawing visitors who previously would have flown only into Tbilisi. Kutaisi itself offers easy access to the Imereti region's cave systems, monasteries, and the dramatic Okatse and Martvili canyons.