Status of Samarkand airport, planes for local flights, new airport in Fergana – An interview with Rano Jurayeva, CEO of Uzbekistan Airports JSC

The CEO of Uzbekistan Airports JSC spoke about the fifth freedom regime being introduced at the Samarkand airport, the development of domestic flights, as well as the new international airport planned to be built in the Fergana Valley.

- At the recent meeting, President Sh. Mirziyoyev entrusted the Ministry of Transport with the task of informing the aviation authorities of all countries that all restrictions on the flights and routes of foreign airlines at the Samarkand airport have been removed. Does this mean that Samarkand airport is given a special status?

- Samarkand airport is the most modern and new airport, located in the center of Uzbekistan, an ancient and magnificent city that attracts tourists. This is where the fifth freedom regime is introduced. This is a very important regime for the development of tourism. What does it give us? Based on this regime, different airlines can bring tourists from different countries. Such regimes have been introduced in major tourist cities such as Istanbul and Dubai, the centers of tourism. According to it, an airline company of one country can take tourists from a country, fly to another country, and fly to a third country from here.

For example, they asked whether tourists from Samarkand can fly to Saudi Arabia on FlyDubai airline planes from Samarkand. This airline operates flights to more than 70 cities, it is possible to fly to any of these cities from Samarkand. It is also possible to bring tourists from those cities to Samarkand.

Therefore, the special status given to the Samarkand airport is explained by the fact that Samarkand is, first of all, a popular and attractive city, ready to receive a large number of tourists. We have prepared the entire infrastructure to increase capacity, for airlines to fly to this city, to bring more tourists.

- At the meeting, the President raised the issue of increasing domestic flights. What is being done on the procurement of low-capacity domestic aircraft?

- I made several statements in the mass media earlier and reported that Silk Avia, a subsidiary of Uzbekistan Airports JSC, specialized in local routes and connecting local airports, was opening. The company has been formed. We are now preparing to deliver the first three aircraft. We have already trained 12 crew members. The first flights will start operating soon.

These aircrafts are French and Italian turboprop ATR-72-600 type planes that can accommodate 74 passengers. We are trying to buy up to 10 of such planes.

We intend to use these planes not only for flights between the capital Tashkent and other cities, but also for the development of domestic tourism and pilgrimage tourism in the direction of Samarkand, Bukhara, Urganch and Valley cities.

To be honest, it is difficult to find aircraft of this type in the aviation market. Because 75% of domestic flights in the whole world are carried out by such planes. They are very expensive, so it is very difficult to find it in the market. So far we have found 3. They were produced in 2019. In 2023-24, we plan to purchase brand new aircraft from ATR. In the near future, a memorandum will be signed with the aircraft manufacturing company.

- At what stage are the works related to the new international airport planned to be built in the Fergana Valley?

- We have thoroughly researched each international airport in the three major cities of the Fergana Valley and developed a strategy for each of them. We weighed every plus and minus of today’s situation. We also looked at the 30-50 year perspective. Because airports are not built every year, not every 5 years. Such objects are built every 30-40 years. For this reason, it is necessary to carefully study the perspective of up to 50 years and build a modern airport that meets all the requirements.

When we researched the existing international airports, we found out that there are many restrictions. All of them are located near big cities. Rather, cities have grown up to the doorstep of the airport in recent times.

Additional land plots are needed to develop these airports. Increasing the passenger flow leads to big problems related to logistics. Because there are problems related to the parking of cars and formation of traffic jams when arriving and leaving the airport.

Most importantly, these airports today have problems with airspace capacity. Therefore, as an alternative, we have proposed the construction of one large international airport in the center of the Valley. There will be an opportunity to cover passengers of each region without difficulty. The distance from the airport to the cities of Kokand, Namangan, Fergana and Andijan is less than 100 km.

The Valley is a fairly densely populated area, it is home to 15 million people, including cities in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. We came to the conclusion that a single and modern international airport should be built for this.

A decision on this proposal is currently underway. I gave a presentation. The project was developed by German specialists. We also consulted with each regional government. They also considered the pluses and minuses. Now it is up to the state to make the final decision.