DUSHANBE, July 19, 2012, Asia-Plus — Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, plans to launch six new international air routes.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Ismoil Ghafforov, Tajik Air director for commerce and international cooperation, said on July 19 that Tajik Air plans to launch air routes from Dushanbe to Kabul (Afghanistan), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Karachi (Pakistan), Guangzhou (China), Bangkok (Thailand) and Seoul (South Korea).
To launch new air routes the Tajik national air carrier should carry out a number of formal procedures. “First of all, Tajik Air must conclude appropriate government-to-government agreements,” said Ghafforov. “Besides, the sides will consider and endorse technical aspects.”
Tajik Air (Tajikistan Airlines) is the national airline of Tajikistan. The airline has its main hub at the Dushanbe airport, and it retains a secondary focus point at the Khujand airport.
The company started operations on September 3, 1924 as Tajik Aviation. Its first route was Bukhara to Dushanbe, served by Junkers F.13 aircraft. It is the sixth oldest airline still in operation.
Until 2008, Tajik Air had an absolute monopoly in Tajikistan’s air transport, owning all planes, airports, and airport and flight services. As a result of restructuring, Tajik Air was split up into several separate companies.
Tajik Air now serves the following destinations: Azerbaijan (Baku); China (Urumqi); India (New Delhi); Iran (Tehran, Mashhad); Kazakhstan (Almaty); Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek); Pakistan (Islamabad); Russia (Irkutsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg, Samara, Sochi, Surgut, and Yekaterinburg); Tajikistan (Khorog and Khujand); Turkey (Istanbul); and United Arab Emirates (Sharjah).
