Mi-8 helicopter of Tajik national air carrier Tajik Air with more than 20 passengers on broad flew from Dushanbe to Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), Friday (June 23) morning. It was reportedly a single flight, operated in response to many requests from passengers.
“The June 23 flight from Dushanbe to Khorog was operated in response to many requests from passengers. Over the past two months, passengers have applied to us asking to operate this flight. Among them there were relatives of a patient who asked us to operate at least one flight to carry him to Khorog and we honored the request,” press secretary of Tajik Air, Aziz Khairulloyev, said.
He further added that helicopter could not be used to operate regular flights from Dushanbe to Khorog.
According to him, Tajik Air is currently seeking solution to the problem of acquiring spare parts for its sole remained An-28, which had been used to operate flights from Dushanbe to Khorog.
Recall, the previous An-28 service stopped in October 2016 as the plane is currently out of service.
It is to be noted that the Dushanbe-Khorog flight goes only in perfect weather and the plane only flies when there are enough passengers that day. This is generally not a problem since An-28 has only 17 seats.
On July 8, 2015, a group of citizens released an open letter asking President Emomali Rahmon to assist in resolving the issue of streamlining Dushanbe– Khorog – Dushanbe flights.
The appeal, which was signed by more than 140 citizens, asked the president to promote regularity of flights, improve their quality and safety, as well as establish affordable air ticket prices based on the solvency of the population, as these people use the services provided by the airport in Dushanbe.
At the same time, in a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Faizullo Sattorov Deputy Director General, Tajik Air, on July 23, 2015 called the Dushanbe-Khorog flight as one of the most difficult ones in the world and emphasized that, despite the difficulties, the flight is unprofitable for Tajik Air. Mr. Sattorov assured that except for AN-28, they cannot use any other airliners for this destination.
Currently, one can get to Khorog only by road, which was last paved in the territory of the Gorno Badakhshan Region during the Soviet Union existence in 1980th.
