New Uzbek airline, established as part of major tourism initiative in one of Asia’s oldest cities, announced today that it will launch direct services from Samarkand. New service announcement is apparently an integral part of a major tourism and commercial drive for Uzbekistan’s second-largest city.
Located in eastern Uzbekistan, Samarkand is one of the oldest cities in Asia, with its origins said to date back to the seventh or eighth millennium BC. A prosperous center of the silk trade and situated on the famed Silk Road, it is in the heart of the country’s ancient and medieval tourist attractions that exist in Samarkand and the surrounding Bukhara, Khiva, Shakhrisabz, and Zaamin National Park regions.
New carrier, Air Samarkand, was unveiled with arrival of its first A330-300 aircraft, which landed today at the newly redeveloped Samarkand International Airport.
Bakhtiyor Fazylov, a Uzbek business leader and founder of Air Samarkand, says: “The launch of this new airline is a significant event for the future development of Uzbekistan as a tourism, cultural and business centre. We are delighted to welcome Air Samarkand’s first aircraft, which will soon operate competitive direct flights with a safe and quality service to the most popular international destinations.”
Air Samarkand expects to welcome the arrival of a second, Airbus A231 aircraft in the coming days. It is designed for medium-haul routes and will mark a rapid development of the Air Samarkand fleet, with the airline hoping to have 5 aircraft in operation by the end of 2023.
Accoding to Air Samarkand, the new airline will operate scheduled and charter flights from Samarkand to a growing number of destinations before the end of 2023 – beginning with services to cities in Turkey, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and China.
Air Samarkand plans further expansion into Europe over the next 12 months as it grows its fleet of Airbus A330 and A320 aircraft.
Utilizing a fleet of modern, safe and fuel-efficient Airbus aircraft, Air Samarkand will provide the 12.6 million people in its local catchment area with the option of taking direct services to key cities in Asia and Europe. This will remove the current need to use time-wasting flight connections to Tashkent and other regional airports.
Air Samarkand Airlines is part of a large-scale project for the development of the Samarkand region, which involves a significant investment in infrastructure with new airport facilities, a multi-faceted Samarkand Silk Road Samarkand tourist centre in the city – the first international tourism resort in Middle Asia embracing four and five-star hotels – and several other first-class facilities that are currently being built.
