A new privately-owned air carrier, Shohin Airlines, has been registered in Tajikistan and is currently based at Dushanbe International Airport, where its headquarters and office are located. This was announced by Habibullo Nazarzoda, the head of the Civil Aviation Agency under the Government of Tajikistan, during a news conference in Dushanbe on January 28.
According to Nazarzoda, the airline was registered four months ago and is already in active negotiations to expand its fleet.
“The company currently operates helicopters, which are stationed at Dushanbe Airport. Additionally, an L-410 aircraft will be added to the fleet in August. Furthermore, Shohin Airlines and the Civil Aviation Agency are in talks with Airbus and Boeing. The airline plans to acquire two Boeing aircraft in the future,” Nazarzoda said.
He also emphasized that Shohin Airlines is a private airline and is actively expanding its presence in Tajikistan's civil aviation market. However, the ownership details of the company have not been disclosed.
Tajikistan is currently home to two airlines with their own fleet: Somon Air, the country’s largest private carrier, founded in 2008, and Tajik Air, the national air carrier, which operates about 4 aircraft of various models.
It is worth noting that in November of last year, Somon Air and Boeing announced an agreement to supply up to 14 economical aircraft, including the 787 Dreamliner and 737 MAX, as part of the "C5+1" summit held in Washington.
Currently, Somon Air operates 6 Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft, which fly to 25 destinations across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Somon Air plans to acquire Boeing 787-9 wide-body aircraft to expand its international route network and up to 10 Boeing 737-8 narrow-body aircraft to modernize its fleet, which is currently entirely made up of Boeing 737 aircraft.
Meanwhile, Tajik Air continues negotiations with Artem Movsesyan, Vice President of the Czech company Omnipol, to modernize its fleet for domestic flights and to smoothly replace the Antonov An-28 with the new L-410 aircraft.
This type of aircraft, which has 19 seats, is well-suited for local and regional flights to neighboring cities such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent, Osh, and Shymkent. The L-410 can also carry up to 2 tons of cargo and is suitable for medical purposes, such as transporting bedridden patients.
It was previously reported that Tajik Air is actively negotiating the acquisition of two such aircraft to enhance its fleet and provide more comfortable services for passengers on domestic routes.
