Based in Dubai, flydubai has announced the opening of flights to Tashkent — capital of Uzbekistan. With the opening of a new flight to Uzbekistan a hybrid route network of the airline will include all Central Asian countries.
Flights between Dubai International airport (DXB) and Tashkent (TAS) will be performed with a frequency of five times a week since March, 2019 on the Boeing 737MAX-8. The route will operate a code-share agreement with Emirates. It is planned that since June, the flight will become daily. The new destination of Dubai, the carrier will compete with Uzbek national airline Uzbekistan Airways.
With the launch of a new direct flight to Tashkent flydubai will operate 33 flights per week to seven destinations in Central Asia, including every country in the region. Its presence in Central Asia, the carrier started operating in November 2010, flights to Ashgabat (Turkmenistan), followed by the opening in February 2012 flights to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), in April 2013 began flights to Dushanbe (Tajikistan) in September 2014 in Almaty (Kazakhstan), in October 2015, in Astana (Kazakhstan) and in 2018 — in Shymkent (Kazakhstan).
“This [the opening of flights to Tashkent] creates opportunities for further development of tourism and trade flows and in line with our policy of opening previously undeveloped markets, offering more opportunities for travel in Dubai and beyond,” — said the head of flydubai Ghaith al Ghaith, commenting on the launch of flights to Tashkent.
The route network owned by the government of Dubai company flydibai (legal name — Dubai Aviation Corporation) covers more than 90 destinations in 47 countries. Flights to Tashkent will be operated jointly with Emirates on a code-share agreement under the partnership the two carriers announced in July 2017.