Uzbekistan Airways saw the delivery of their first Airbus A330 on April 21, an aircraft which the company is planning to use for commercial operation in 2023-2024. The aircraft was received at the Tashkent International Airport.
With a 266-passenger configuration across two classes, the A330 is set to carry 18 passengers in Business Class and 248 in Economy Class. The new aircraft will play a great part in the restoration of the carrier’s route network which is now slowly but surely getting better.
Greater capacity for the returning network
The Airbus A330 becomes the latest addition for Uzbekistan Airways, after being delivered to the Tashkent International Airport on Friday, 21 April.
The airframe was greeted with a water cannon salute to the sounds of karnai-surnai (Uzbek national instruments) and national dances.
The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Transport, management and employees of the airline, media representatives and plane spotters.
The airline decided to lease two Airbus A330 aircraft to implement the ambitious plans of the company, as a part of the concept of expanding their aircraft fleet and fulfilling the tasks of increasing the carrier’s route network.
The lease agreement was signed between Uzbekistan Airways JSC and Heston Airlines, which is where the aircraft originates from.
The aircraft will be operating long-haul and medium-haul flights, with the initial routes being between Tashkent and Istanbul, along with Tashkent and Dubai. Services are already effective, as the first flight took to the skies on April 23 between Istanbul and Tashkent.
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The airline is gradually seeing their route network be restored, and so far the flights to Paris, Milan, Beijing and Tokyo are the ones currently back in the air.
Furthermore, flights to Jakarta will resume on April 26, and flight frequencies to New York, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, London, Riga, Tbilisi, Almaty among other cities have seen an increase.
With the first A330 now in service and the carrier having ambitious plans for its services in the near future, the company has also shared information on the second Airbus A330 arrival, which is currently planned to arrive on May 3 this year.
More Airbus aircraft due
Uzbekistan Airways already marks themselves as solid Airbus-Boeing operator with the carrier currently having 20 Airbus aircraft across the A320neo and A321neo range, now also including the Airbus A330. Besides that the carrier also operates a Boeing 767/757 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
However, the carrier is expecting more Airbus A320neo family aircraft, as they announced an order for thirteen A320neo family aircraft in late January of this year.
On that previous announcement, Ilhom Makhkamov, Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airways commented saying: “The contract signed with Airbus is a new step in our fleet modernization strategy aimed at offering our passengers the most modern and comfortable aircraft.”
“At the same time, these new fuel-efficient A320neo Family aircraft will help us to further expand and strengthen our footprint in Central Asia as well as develop our domestic and international network”.
According to Planespotters.net data, the airline has not seen deliveries of any aircraft included in this agreement, and a date remains unknown at present.
