At the initiative of the Ministry of Transport, Uzbekistan Airports is creating a regional subsidiary airline Silk Avia. The new air carrier plans to start operating flights next year.
As reported in the press service of Uzbekistan Airports, airline Silk Avia was registered in September this year.
It also became known that within the framework of the international air show Dubai Airshow-2021, which was held from November 14 to 18 in Dubai, Uzbekistan Airports and HAS Aviation GT LLC signed an agreement on the development of a strategy to create a regional airline.
“The creation of a regional airline is important to stimulate business activity in Uzbekistan and create conditions for the development of domestic tourism. It, in turn, will affect the increase in the coefficient of aviation mobility of the population, which shows the average number of flights per inhabitant of the country,” the national airline said in a statement.
It is noted that the new airline is necessary for the development of regional airports. Therefore, at the first stage, it is created by the management company Uzbekistan Airports.
“We have set a goal to create an airline on the market that will provide domestic air transportation for citizens at affordable prices. Until recently, the lack of direct flights connecting the cities of Uzbekistan was a big problem. To get from Samarkand to Khorezm, passengers had to fly through Tashkent. Our task is to organize internal transportation not only according to the point to hub principle (from the capital to the regions), but also according to the point to point model (between regions). The plans include the development of up to 40 routes, as well as the purchase of regional aircraft with a passenger capacity of up to 70 people. The tariffs will be comparable to those of the railroad. This will have a beneficial effect on the development of domestic tourism, and on the final cost of air tickets for the consumer,” Rano Jurayeva, Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airports, said.
In the future, the airline is planned to be transferred to the private sector.
“Silk Avia does not position itself as a competitor of the national air carrier Uzbekistan Airways, but acts as a partner in organizing domestic transportation,” the conclusion says.
