Humo Air returns aircraft to Bulgarian lessor Fly2Sky

Previously, Kun.uz reported that from March 10, Humo Air is temporarily suspending all flights for the duration of the “reboot” and is preparing to launch international flights.

The low-cost airline has agreed with the Bulgarian company Fly2Sky on the return of leased aircraft, the airline’s press service reported.

The airline’s fleet consisted of two Airbus A320-200 aircraft. On March 2, an airliner with tail number LZ-MDI flew from Tashkent to Plovdiv, returning to the lessor. Another aircraft with tail number LZ-FSD will continue to operate flights until March 10, and then Fly2Sky will return.

The press service of Humo Air explained that the airline decided to return the aircraft “due to the current conditions of the leasing contract, which do not allow development according to the intended business plan”. The low-cost airline will receive aircraft from the new lessor in April.

After the arrival of new aircraft, Humo Air will begin regular flights in April, including abroad. In the future, the airline intends to concentrate on operating international flights, without giving up flights within the republic.

The low-cost airline has also begun processing refund requests and working with registries to automatically cancel payments for air tickets purchased for flights from March 11 to March 30. Humo Air noted that money will begin arriving on customers’ bank cards this week. Moreover, passengers will be able to exchange tickets for another date without incurring additional fees.

At the end of 2022, the state share in Humo Air was transferred to the Swiss investment company ValleyRoad Capital S.A. The new owner bought 100% of the company for 27.2 billion soums.

It was initially assumed that the airline would receive the first three aircraft and launch regular flights using the low-cost airline model by the end of June 2023. However, the aircraft arrived later, which is why the low-cost airline was able to launch passenger services only in December.

At the first stage, Humo Air launched flights from Tashkent to four cities – Nukus, Samarkand, Urgench and Karshi. On January 7, flights between Samarkand and Urgench were launched, and two days later flights from the capital to Fergana began.

The airline announced plans to soon operate 1,000 flights and transport more than 200 thousand passengers. Representatives of the low-cost airline expressed their intentions to launch flights to foreign cities, including Almaty, Istanbul and Dubai, by the end of this year.