After an almost 4-year hiatus, Tajikistan airline Tajik Air is planning to resume operations.
Operations
Tajik Air had suspended its operations back in 2019 due to financial and technical problems, according to director general Parviz Shodmonzoda.
“We have already submitted our proposals to the Supervisory Board, and we are waiting for its approval, after which we plan to start flights,” he said.
Shodmonzoda also said that the company is going to operate Airbus aircraft. “In December 2022, we reached an agreement to lease two A319 aircraft with a layout of 320 seats and an A321 aircraft with 220 seats, produced in 2011,” he stated.
Shodmonzoda added training of personnel will also begin, which will take no more than two months. Tajik Air currently owns 1 Boeing 757-200 with a registration EY-751.
The country is also planning to open direct flights from the country’s capital Dushanbe to Georgia’s Tbilisi and Azerbaijan’s Baku this spring, Director of the Civil Aviation Agency of Tajikistan, Dilshod Sefarzoda, told reporters, trend reports referring to Tajik media.
“At the moment, there are meetings held to discuss the main relevant issues,” Sefarzoda noted.
The flight to Tbilisi is planned to open in March while the flight to Baku is in May. The operating company is now assumed to be Tajik Air, but the frequency and the ticket prices still remain unknown.
If Tajik Air manages to get permission to fly again, then the airline might increase its capacity.
Although the airline hasn’t been able to operate flights, the country had been able to stay connected to other countries such as Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, from February 8, 2023, Tajikistan is resuming air communication with China, after a three-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Flights will be operated once a week. From March, their frequency will increase to two times a week.
Competition
Tajik Air is not the only airline in the country. While they may be the national airline of Tajikistan, they aren’t the biggest nor the one with the biggest connectivity. That title goes to Somon Air.
Somon Air is keeping the country connected as the (at the moment) sole operator of the country. They are a more successful airline, being able to operate a more modern and more maintained fleet, using 4 737-800 and 2 737-900s.
Tajik Air
Tajik Air can trace its history back to 1924 when the airline was founded. The airline operated with relatively small planes such as the Junkers F.13 propeller plane, which was used to operate flights between Bukhara and Dushanbe.
The aviation industry in Tajikistan grew to its peak in post-world war 2 USSR, as they were usually the most successful in the socio-economic sector.
For example, B.M. Vorobiev successfully landed an Antonov An-6 on the ice of the Sarez lake. Due to the Tajik Civil Aviation Authority’s efficiency in the use of the Yak-40 and An-28 aircraft usage, they have won first place in USSR’s Air Fleet around the 1990s. Tajik Air used to operate many helicopters as well.
