October 29, 2023, Samarkand. Samarkand International Airport has switched to an autumn-winter flight schedule. During the spring-summer period (VLP) 2023, Air Marakanda served more than 615 thousand passengers (+130% compared to the same period last year), and since the beginning of this year, 811 thousand passengers have been served (+118% compared to the same period last year).
A number of new air carriers have started flying to Samarkand airport in VLP: Pobeda, Silk Avia, Panorama Airways and YUVT AERO, opening direct flights from Samarkand to Moscow, Tashkent, Medina and Kazan. It is especially worth noting that for the first time in the history of Samarkand, the largest airline in Asia by fleet size, China Southern Airlines, in cooperation with Air Marakanda, connected Samarkand with China (Urumqi).
During this period, the Azimut air carrier opened flights to Sochi, the national airline Uzbekistan Airways began operating direct flights to Kazan, Uzbekistan Helicopters opened flights to Zaamin for the first time, Utair – to St. Petersburg, and the Uzbek air carrier Qanot Sharq began operating flights to Tel Aviv, Jeddah and Istanbul. In turn, the existing airlines have also resumed their flight program and increased frequencies to existing destinations. For example, the Kuwaiti airline Jazeera Airways resumed flights to Kuwait, and the Kazakh low–cost airline FlyArystan resumed flights to Alma-Ata.
As part of the autumn-winter schedule, partner airlines will continue to open new destinations and increase the frequency of flights on the most popular routes of the near and far abroad, while Samarkand Airport will provide passengers and guests with comfortable conditions of stay.
Since the autumn-winter period, the new airline Air Samarkand, which will be based at Samarkand International Airport, begins its activities. In the new season, the airline plans regular and charter flights from Samarkand to a number of foreign destinations, including cities in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Turkey and China.
In the autumn schedule, for the first time from Samarkand International Airport, the Turkish airline SunExpress, which carries out regular and charter passenger air transportation in Europe and Turkey, will launch regular flights to Izmir, Turkey's third most populous city. The Russian airline Red Wings will connect Samarkand and Kazan with direct flights.
In the autumn-winter flight schedule, the budget airline Pobeda increases the frequency of flights to Moscow from 4 to 7 times a week Jazeera Airways is also introducing an additional frequency and will operate flights to Kuwait 3 times a week. Uzbekistan Airways will increase the frequency of flights to Moscow from 4 to 5 times a week, and to St. Petersburg - up to 3 times.
In addition to opening new destinations and introducing additional frequencies, for a comfortable stay of passengers at Samarkand International Airport, Air Marakanda has taken all necessary measures to maintain the thermal regime in the passenger terminal and ensure the proper functioning of heat supply systems.
Additionally, in order to continuously improve the range of services provided, a 24-hour office of the Bureau of Enforcement of the Samarkand Regional Administration under the Prosecutor General's Office has been opened in the terminal of Samarkand Airport, where passengers can find out about the presence of debts restricting travel abroad. Also, an additional point for the sale of SIM cards of the Ucell mobile operator began to function in the terminal complex of Samarkand International Airport, and an office of Orient Finans bank was opened in the international arrival area, where passengers can exchange currency immediately after passing through border control.
