It is now impossible to conduct flights to Khorog since Tajik national air carrier Tajik Air has suspended its operations due to financial problems, Aziz Nabizoda, the deputy head of the Civil Aviation Agency under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
“Meanwhile Somon Air does not have appropriate aircraft to operate flights to Khorog,” said Nabizoda. “Only small aircraft can operate flights to mountain areas of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) but Somon Air has only six Boeings.”
According to him, only Antonov-28 owned by Tajik Air could operate flights to Khorog, but Tajik Air suspended its operations at the beginning of this year due to financial problems.
“The work on improvement of financial state of Tajik Air is going on,” Nabizoda stressed.
The national airline has experienced great financial difficulties since the end of the zero years. Specialists of the airline say that in such conditions the carrier turned out to be due to high prices for jet fuel and the unstable economic situation.
Tajik national air carrier has actually suspended it operations stopping flights practically on all air routes. Some experts say it cannot be ruled out that the company will be declared bankrupt with further handover to private hands.
On January 21, Emomali Rahmon actually expelled the head of the airline, Khairullo Rahimov, from the room during a government meeting. A day later, Dilshod Ismatullozoda, who had previously served as deputy head of President’s Executive Office, was named as a replacement director-general of Tajik Air.
Khairullo Rahimov now faces charges of abuse of power, embezzlement and forgery. Criminal proceedings have been instituted not only against him but also against other top managers of the national air carrier.
As far as flights to Khorog are concerned, Tajik Air suspended flights on this air route in October 2016. Before that, the flights to Khorog were carried out by a sole remained Antonov-28 in the Tajik Air’s fleet.
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.
In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Faizullo Sattorov, the then 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
