Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 29 December 2023, Air Samarkand made its first flight with passengers to Istanbul on an Airbus A330 aircraft.

The first commercial flight took off at 10:50 am from Samarkand International Airport with 305 passengers on board and headed for Istanbul. Türkiye is one of the priority destinations from Samarkand: the airline plans to operate flights to both capital airports, as well as to other cities in Türkiye.

The first flight is a major milestone for any airline. With the start of passenger transportation, the airline moves from the preparation stage to its main mission: to connect cities and countries, uniting people and expanding transport, tourism and business opportunities in Samarkand and Uzbekistan.

“The launch of passenger flights from Samarkand is a big event not only for us, but also for our base airport, the city and the Republic as a whole. Our team has come a long way to start flights from Samarkand. In the near future, we will see the opening of new destinations, expansion of the fleet and other events,” said Air Samarkand CEO Anton Khojayan.

Earlier, on 27 December, the Civil Aviation Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan issued the airline an Operator Certificate - the main document confirming the airline’s compliance with the requirements of aviation legislation, international standards and ICAO flight safety requirements.

The next day, on 28 December, the airline successfully completed a demonstration flight from Samarkand to Tashkent to test the performance of the flight and cabin crew, as well as to ensure that all requirements and procedures were met before commencing passenger operations.

For the current period, the airline is focused on operating flights on a charter basis, but by the beginning of the spring-summer season it expects to begin operating regular flights and open ticket sales on its own website, through ticket offices and online aggregators.