Uzbekistan Airways turns 32 years old

     After the declaration of independence, the Republic of Uzbekistan confidently took a course towards reforming and improving all spheres of the country’s life. Along with other industries, special attention was paid to the development of air transport. Thus, on January 28, 1992, the National Airline “Uzbekistan Airways” was created, which served as the beginning of a new era in the development of civil aviation in our republic. In the first years of its activity, the company established connections with major cities in the CIS countries, Europe, America and Southeast Asia, updated its aircraft fleet with modern Western-made airliners, and opened representative offices in more than 20 countries. Thanks to the high level of flight safety, competent air traffic management and personnel training system, the airline has firmly taken its position in the international air transportation market.

In 2018, according to the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in order to radically improve civil aviation, develop competition in the field of aviation technology, expand the geography of flights and improve the quality of passenger service in accordance with international standards, national airline O‘zbekiston Havo Yo‘llari was reorganized and renamed Uzbekistan Airways JSC, which contributed to enormous changes and improvements in the entire aviation industry of the republic. Today, Uzbekistan Airways is the largest airline in Central Asia with a dynamically developing route network and aircraft fleet, constantly working to improve the quality of services and products. From year to year, Uzbekistan Airways continues to win the trust of passengers, as evidenced by the constantly increasing passenger traffic: in the period 2020 - 2021, despite the difficult period of the pandemic, the airline carried more than 3 million passengers, in 2022 4.2 million passengers were transported, and by the end of 2023, the company transported a record number of passengers – 5 million.

The Uzbekistan Airways fleet includes more than 30 aircraft, including modern Western-made airliners from the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers - Boeing and Airbus. In 2023, the airline added five Airbus A320neo and two Let L-410 aircraft to its fleet. Over the next 3-5 years, it is planned to introduce over 20 new aircraft into the aircraft fleet.

Today, the air carrier operates flights to more than 75 destinations around the world, has representative offices in 28 foreign countries, and cooperates with other global airlines in the field of Interline and Code-share agreements. In 2023, the number of flights operated increased to more than 32 thousand. Thanks to the competent work of its employees and in-depth analysis of the air transportation market, Uzbekistan Airways is actively expanding its flight geography and opening new destinations every year. Thus, in 2023, Uzbekistan Airways restored flights from Tashkent to Beijing, Jakarta, Urumqi, Bangkok and Phuket. Also, new regular flights were launched from Tashkent to Munich, Ankara, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Grozny, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk. In the future, the airline aims to open new scheduled flights to different countries of the world on an annual basis. Also, in accordance with the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the regional airline Silk Avia with an air fleet of 3 ATR-72 aircraft was transferred to Uzbekistan Helicopters LLC, which is part of Uzbekistan Airways JSC. In the future, it is planned to increase the number of flights on domestic routes, launch new routes and increase the fleet of ATR-72 aircraft.

“The development of the route network of Uzbekistan Airways, the creation of the safest and most comfortable conditions for flights, along with the provision of affordable services and products to the population of the Republic of Uzbekistan, are key tasks for our airline in the coming years. There is a lot of work ahead, but we are confident that we will be able to implement all our plans and confirm our leadership in the region in the near future. Today we turn 32 years old and this is an excellent date for starting the implementation of our long-term and medium-term plans, as well as for making all the efforts of our team in their implementation,” Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airways JSC Shukhrat Khudaykulov said.

The airline’s achievements over 32 years of operation are not limited to the above facts. Taking into account the work of specialists from structural divisions such as Uzbekistan Airways Technics LLC, Catering LLC, Uzbekistan Helicopters LLC and Training Center LLC, we can safely say that Uzbekistan Airways makes an invaluable contribution to the development of civil aviation on a daily basis.