QURGHON TEPPA, November 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — Tajik private air company, Sughdiyon, has opened a twice-monthly service from Qurghon Teppa, the capital of the Khatlon province to the Russian city of Magnitogrosk.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Bahrom Shermatov, the deputy director general of Sughdiyon, said that the company used Boeing 757-200 to operate that flight. “It is still a charter flight but we plant to make it the regular flight in the future,” he said.
According to him, Sughdiyon has concluded a contract with the Qurghon Teppa airport and they plan to launch a number of other air routes from Qurghon Teppa to the Russian cities. “We are currently considering the issue of re-launching the flight Qurghon Teppa-Moscow and launching the routes from Qurghon Teppa Khanty-Mansiyisk and Nizhny Novgorod,” Shermatov said, adding that Sughdiyon assumed development of the Qurghon Teppa airport due to operation of the mentioned flights.
In the meantime, the Qurghon Teppa airport director Mikhail Leonov told Asia-Plus today that closure of flights that had previously bee operated from the airport had seriously affected the airport. “We need millions of dollars for rehabilitation,” said Leonov, “We hope that launch of flights suggested by Sughdiyon will allow changing the situation for better.”
Sughdiyon is a private airline currently based in Qurghon Teppa. The company was registered in 2007 and its fleet now includes one Boeing 757-200 (leased).
The 757-200 is the definitive version and forms the majority of 757s sold. It shares its fuselage cross section with the smaller 727 and 737. Boeing positioned the plane above the 737 and as an eventual replacement for the 727. At first it was meant to be a little shorter in length. In the end it was positioned not only above the 737, but also the 727. This variant can carry 228 passengers in a single class. However, with a seat pitch of 29 inches it can carry a maximum of 234 passengers.
