Uzbekistan and Russia Agree to Boost Flights to Over 1,000 Per Week
Uzbekistan and Russia have agreed to expand their air travel ties, authorising more than 1,000 regular weekly flights between the two countries, the Uzbek Ministry of Transport reports.
The expanded agreement opens the way for over 16 mln passengers annually, provided flight frequencies are fully used and tourist flows continue rising. In 2024, bilateral air travel reached 4.1 mln passengers across 32,600 flights, and the first five months of 2025 have already seen a 7.1% increase year-on-year.
The deal not only boosts overall flight numbers but also outlines a detailed distribution of routes between major cities:
- Tashkent – Moscow: 50 flights per side, 100 in total
- Samarkand – Moscow: 23 flights per side, 46 in total
- Bukhara, Urgench, Fergana, Namangan – Moscow: 14 flights per side for each city, 112 in total
- Tashkent – Saint Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Sochi: 14 flights per city pair, 42 in total
- Termez – Moscow: 10 flights per side, 20 in total
In addition to these scheduled flights, the agreement allows 7 flights per week from all other city pairings, including links from Russia’s 80 international airports to all of Uzbekistan’s international gateways. This creates 560 weekly flights for Russian carriers and 203 for Uzbek airlines across 29 major Russian airports, on top of the already specified routes.
Flexible Routing and Market Liberalisation
The agreement also introduces flexibility in routing. Each airline may now select up to five cities of its choice to operate triangular routes, connecting three different destinations without restrictions on airline numbers.
Currently, during the IATA summer season, there are 307 flights per week between the two countries, operated by 12 airlines, including three Uzbek carriers. The new regime represents more than a threefold increase, reflecting surging passenger demand and growing economic and tourism ties.
Russian airlines alone increased their passenger traffic on Uzbek routes by nearly 50% in 2023, according to the Russian Ministry of Transport.
Kursiv also reports that by the end of 2024, more than 870,000 Russians visited Uzbekistan.
