Silk Avia, a regional subsidiary of Uzbekistan Airports, plans to launch its first flights in September-October this year. This was announced by the board chairman of Uzbekistan Airports Rano Juraeva in an interview with the Alter Ego project.
Silk Avia was registered in September 2021. The main purpose of its establishment is to provide citizens of Uzbekistan with domestic air transport at affordable prices. Rano Juraeva explained why there was a delay in launching this budget airline.
“It is very difficult to set up an airline. I suggested this two years ago. Now I offered to do this startup, then someone will take it from me and continue to run it. It is very difficult to find the planes. We developed a business plan and compared different regional planes from an economic point of view and stopped at ATR 72-600,” she said.
According to her, the short-range regional liner of the French-Italian manufacturer ATR has the “best economy” performance. Silk Avia plans to buy three of the 70 similar aircraft.
“Now we have to find them in the market. And they are not in the market. They are the most popular aircraft on regional routes. 75% of all flights in the regions are operated on these aircraft. We are looking for these planes in the market and we seem to have found them,” she said.
Rano Juraeva called the formation of the pilot team the second most important factor. According to her, local specialists are being sent to Toulouse, France for training, and pilots from Russia are also being recruited.
“The third important factor is the sales system we need to sell tickets over the phone. The fourth is aircraft maintenance. We are currently working with UAT (Uzbekistan Airways Technics) to repair these aircraft and support their airworthiness. They also study in Toulouse,” she noted.
The head of Uzbekistan Airports announced the dates of the first flights. “We plan to launch the first flights in September-October,” she said.
Earlier it was reported that Silk Avia plans to increase the number of routes to 40. “Tariffs will be compatible with railway tickets. This will have a positive impact on the development of domestic tourism, as well as the cost of air tickets for consumers,” Rano Juraeva concluded.
