January 15–31 Central Asian Commercial Aviation News Brief
All 10 airports of Uzbekistan demonstrated growth of key operational indicators last year.
In total, from January to December 2024, Uzbek airports served 13.5 million passengers, up impressive 29.7% year-on-year, Uzbekistan Airports management company said.
Of the total, 11.02 million passengers traveled on international flights with 2.48 million domestically.
Last year Uzbek airlines carried 8.74 million passengers (on 73,970 flights), another 4.77 million traveled on foreign carriers, which made 39,650 flights.
In total, the international airports of the Central Asian republic served 113,600 flights (+33% year-on-year). Of these, 80,200 flights were made to international destinations and 33,400 domestically.
Of the country’s six largest airports with 500,000+ passenger traffic, the largest growth was demonstrated by Namangan (+39%), the smallest - Bukhara (+4%).
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Uzbekistan continues to expand options for religious air travel. On January 15, Flyadeal launched flights from Jeddah (JED) to Namangan (NMA), Uzbekistan.
This is Saudi LCC’s second destination in the Central Asian republic: it has been flying daily from Jeddah to Tashkent (TAS) since November.
Nonstop regular flights Jeddah - Namangan will be operated by Airbus A330 widebody aircraft with a frequency of three times a week.
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Uzbekistan’s Transport Ministry has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the UAE-headquartered company Jetex, which will open the first FBO (Fixed Base Operator) facility for private aviation in Uzbekistan.
The new, state-of-the-art facility will be located at Tashkent-Eastern Airport. It will provide services for business aviation, including maintenance and repair, sales, storage, as well as aerotaxi and VIP cab services, in partnership with the Central Asian republic’s government.
This FBO will be part of Jetex’s network of more than 50 locations worldwide, spanning the Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Americas.
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Confirming the viability of the public-private partnership model in Uzbekistan’s air transport, Samarkand (SKD), the second largest airport of the Central Asian republic, set a new historical high again, serving more than 1.38 million passengers in 2024, a 36.6% more than in the record year of 2023.
This was reported by Air Marakanda, a privately-run company that has been managing the airport since 2022.
While clearly a very impressive achievement, Samarkand is far from breaking the 2 million target, airport management had hoped for a year ago.
The collapse of the Uzbeki first low-cost carrier Humo Air and the slow start of the base carrier Air Samarkand, among others things, prevented the airport from achieving this extremely ambitious goal.
In the ranking of the largest airports in Uzbekistan, Samarkand firmly occupies the second position, significantly ahead of Namangan (759,800, +39% y-on-y). The undisputed leader, Tashkent capital airport, is far ahead (8.7 million, +28%).
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All three Georgia’s international airports saw a record number of passengers and flights In 2024.
The total traffic of Caucasus country’s gateways amounted to 7.425 million passengers, a 24% increase year-on-year, a historical record. The number of flights increased by 25% to 31,937, the state-owned management company United Airports of Georgia (UAG) said.
According to UAG, Tbilisi Airport (TBS) served 4.751 million passengers (+29% year-on-year). Compared to the previous year, the number of flights at the capital's airport increased by 30% to 22,715.
Kutaisi Airport (KUT), which passenger traffic skyrocketed in the first year after the pandemic, managed to grow only by 3% last year to 1.723 million passengers, with 5,078 flights (+1%) served.
Tbilisi and Batumi airports are under trust management of the Turkish company TAV Georgia, while Kutaisi is directly managed by UAG.
United Airports of Georgia hopes that passenger traffic will exceed the 8 million passenger mark in 2025.
But in many ways the future depends on political stability in the country. Street protests gripped Georgia since end of November, when the government said it will not seek the opening of EU accession talks until 2028.
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Kazakhstan-based low-cost carrier FlyArystan (IATA code: FS) took delivery of another new Airbus A320neo, increasing the number of the aircraft of the type to 11. Its fleet now consists of 24 aircraft, also including 13 A320ceos.
The aircraft arrived in Almaty directly from Toulouse plant on January 15, but has not yet entered revenue service.
The PW1127G-JM-powered aircraft is on the long term lease from Avolon and configured to accommodate 188 passengers.
This year, Air Astana Group expects to add 8 aircraft, of which at least two A320ceos are intended for the LCC, with their delivery slated for the first quarter.
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Kazakhstan has become the first country in Central Asia to adopt a National Plan for reducing aviation CO2 emissions into the environment, the country’s Ministry of Transport reported. The plan aims to significantly reduce the environmental impact of aviation, addressing the growing challenges related to climate change and sustainable development.
The plan says that:
? Kazakhstan has joined the ICAO-promoted global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
? The country’s leading aviation fuel producer, KazMunayGas, in collaboration with the nation’s largest airline Air Astana, has begun exploring the possibility of launching the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Kazakhstan. The Pavlodar Free Economic Zone has been identified as the most suitable location for this initiative, with plans to establish an autonomous plant for SAF production using bioethanol.
? As part of the SAF implementation efforts, Kazakhstan is also preparing to begin production of Jet A-1 fuel, compliant with Western standards, at facilities in Pavlodar, Shymkent, and Atyrau. This fuel will be blended with SAF. The country’s major airports in Almaty and Astana have already started upgrading their refueling facilities to accommodate Jet A-1.
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Atyrau International Airport (GUW), located in northwestern Kazakhstan, has implemented an open skies regime, announced Kairat Nurtaev, Deputy Akim of the Atyrau Region. This regime removes all restrictions on the number of flights operated by foreign airlines to the airport.
Regional authorities hope that this initiative will lead to an increase in both international and domestic flights, as well as the establishment of direct air connections between Atyrau and Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is also expected to boost competition among airlines, which could result in lower airfares.
Currently, Atyrau serves 89 domestic flights across seven routes and 21 international flights across six routes weekly.
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In 2024, Kazakh airlines carried record 14.679 mln passengers, according to National Statistics Bureau of the Central Asian country.
Passenger traffic saw double-digit growth again, +10,6% compared to 2023 when the number of passengers amounted to 13.267 mln.
According to the Transport Ministry, the country's airports served a total of some 29.7 million passengers last year, including those transported by international airlines. This means that foreign carriers retain about 50% of Kazakhstan's air market.
Air cargo traffic grew 17% year-on-year, to 27,880 tons.
Kazakhstan’s airlines are slated to get 18 aircraft this year, including 8 for Air Astana / Fly Arystan, 7 for SCAT Airlines and 5 for Qazaq Air.
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In 2024 – its first full year of operations, Uzbekistan’s startup carrier Centrum Air saw its traffic exceeding half a million passengers.
As a representative of the privately-run carrier told CentralAsia+Aero, almost all flights last year were international.
Over the year, the airline launched routes from Uzbekistan to Batumi (Georgia), Dubai (UAE), Doha (Qatar), Guangzhou (China), Salalah (Oman), Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), and Sri Lanka.
The carrier's fleet logged over 3,000 flight hours during the year. Centrum Air added three aircraft: two A321neo and one A320ceo, increasing its fleet size to six Airbus narrowbodies.
In 2025, the airline plans to maintain all-Airbus fleet by adding two A321ceos, two A320neos, one A321neo, as well as three A330-300 long-haul widebodies.
Centrum Air commenced revenue operations in February 2023, and is part of a group that also includes My Freighter, the country's largest cargo airline.?
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In its first year of scheduled operations, Uzbekistan’s Air Samarkand carried 152,600 passengers and 2,650 tons of cargo on 1,237 flights.
The average load factor for scheduled flights was 82%, while charters saw an 89% load factor, the airline reported.
The startup commenced revenue operations in late 2023 with charter flights to Istanbul and Delhi from Uzbekistan’s second largest city and its base – Samarkand.
Throughout the year, the airline added Jeddah, Medina, Sharm El-Sheikh, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, Nha Trang, and Phu Quoc to its route network. Charter flights were also operated to Dubai, Delhi, Dhaka, Islamabad, Batumi, Tbilisi, and other cities.
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Kazakhstan's largest airline group, Air Astana (which includes the flag carrier and LCC FlyArystan), has urged the Central Asian country's airports to implement proactive measures to minimize the risks of aircraft collisions with birds, including environmental control and management.
The call comes amid a sharp rise in such incidents in Kazakhstan and following a preliminary report published in South Korea on the deadly crash of a Jeju Air Boeing 737 on December 29 last year, which revealed that duck remains found in both engines of the jet.
The number of such incidents in Kazakhstan is much higher compared to the global figure, Air Astana said, citing data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Thus, for 2024 the rate of bird strikes per 10,000 flights in the group increased by 30% year-on-year to 203 cases.
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As part of the strategy to expand its route network, improve operational efficiency and sustainable growth, Kazakhstan's flag carrier Air Astana has leased another new Airbus A320neo.
Given recent delivery of a similar aircraft to its budget subsidiary FlyArystan, the group's total fleet now stands at 58 aircraft, mostly made of Airbus narrowbodies.
Factory-fresh aircraft (MSN 12360) arrived in Almaty today, January 29, directly from Toulouse, France. The aircraft, registered EI-KID, is on a long-term lease from Avolon.
The PW1127G-powered aircraft has a two-class layout: 16 seats in business and 132 in economy.
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Uzbeki flagship carrier Uzbekistan Airways has altered some of its routes to Europe to bypass Russian airspace.
The decision was made due to recent recommendations from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the chairman of the carrier’s board Shukhrat Khudaykulov explained on the press-conference on January 28.
The agency warned that it was unsafe to fly over European territory of Russia following the deadly accident involving Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 on December 25, 2024.
Since January 20, Uzbekistan Airways has re-routed its flights from Tashkent to London, Munich, Paris, and Frankfurt, which now pass south of Russia, over Azerbaijan and Turkey.
This extends the flight time by 30–40 minutes one way and leads to additional costs for the company, Khudaykulov said.
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Somon Air, Tajikistan's flag carrier, today, January 30, signed an agreement with UAE-based DAE Capital for the lease of two new Boeing 737MAX-8 aircraft.
The aircraft are expected to join the privately-run airline's all-Boeing fleet in 2026.
Prior to the temporary ban on MAX operations in 2019 and Covid-19, Somon Air had leasing arrangements for aircraft of the type, which were terminated.
The airline hopes that 737-8's efficiency and flexibility will enable it to launch new, longer routes while reducing fuel use.
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Uzbekistan’s privately held airline, My Freighter, has signed a lease agreement for a Boeing 757-200F cargo aircraft with Singapore-based Titan Aviation Leasing.
The aircraft is expected to arrive in February, according to the airline’s Fleet Management Director, Ahmed Eid.
The Boeing 757F will be the first of its type in My Freighter’s fleet and in Uzbekistan’s cargo aviation in general. The airline began operations in 2022 with a single Boeing 747-200F and currently transports cargo between China and Europe via Uzbekistan using six Boeing 767-300ERs.
“This type [B757] will serve the regional destinations synerging with our B767Fs,” Eid said.
My Freighter is already the largest air freight carrier in Uzbekistan by size of the freighter fleet.