The Dushanbe-Urumqi flight that was scheduled for today has been postponed for curtain time.
“We don’t really know when the first flight on this air route will be operated and for what reason it was postponed. It is better to turn to the Civil Aviation Agency or airlines,” an official source within the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe told Asia-Plus yesterday afternoon.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to reach the Civil Aviation Agency representatives.
It could not be ruled out that the flight was cancelled due to unstable epidemiological situation in China.
As it had been reported earlier, Tajikistan’s privately owned air carrier Somon Air was supposed to operate the Dushanbe-Urumqi flight on June 23.
It was noted that Somon Air and South China Airlines will operate flights on this air route once every two weeks each.
Recall, flights operated by Tajikistan’s Somon Air and South China Airlines to China were suspended on April 10, 2020 due to the novel coronavirus crisis. Each of these air carriers operated flights from Dushanbe to Urumqi twice a week.
The flights on this air route were supposed to be resumed in October 2020 but they were delayed all the time. The Tajik said at the time that they were waiting for a response from the Chinese side.
Chinese authorities have changed travel requirements for entry into the country from Tajikistan. According to the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe, nationals of Tajikistan traveling to China now must have a certificate showing the negative result of COVID-19, obtained by testing by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method, and made no earlier than 24 hours (one day) prior to arrival.
The embassy says the new travel requirements entered into force on May 19, 2022. The embassy also notes that people traveling to China from Tajikistan must get a PCR test only in Diamed labs, and the certificate must be in paper version and bears a stamp. To get a PCR test in other labs is possible only with consent of the Chinese Embassy.
The embassy also notes that when leaving the country you need to get a green health code even if you are flying through China in transit. In the absence of a green health code, the passenger will get stranded in the country of transit. Therefore, the Chinese Embassy in Dushanbe recommends visiting the site of the Chinese Embassy in the country of transit in advance in order to get acquainted with the procedure for obtaining a green health code.
Passengers flying to China from Tajikistan must fill in an online-form on the health status and register on the site: http://hrhk.cs.mfa.gov.cn/H5/.
