flydubai’s Inaugural Uzbekistan Flight Commences

Today, Uzbekistan welcomed Dubai-native airline flydubai’s inaugural Uzbekistan flight to Samarkand International Airport (SKD). This milestone route is set to strengthen the country’s relationship with UAE and make Uzbekistan more accessible to tourists.

Operating twice a week from Dubai International Airport (DXB), flydubai will be issuing flights on Tuesdays and Fridays to Samarkand. This is the first flight the airline serves in Uzbekistan, but won’t be the only one for long as flydubai is set to commence its Dubai-Namangan route on the 24th September. By the end of the week, there will be 10 weekly flydubai flights to Uzbekistan.

The steady flow of passenger traffic into the Central-Asian country puts an optimistic view on Uzbekistan’s tourism sector growth. Samarkand, commonly referred to as part of the Silk Road, holds large historic importance that would interest historians and visitors alike. Adding more frequent flights in and out of the country will definitely help optimise the number of tourists visiting, which in turn, would see Uzbekistan’s economy develop.

A Newer Airport to be Developed Following flydubai’s Inaugural Flight to Samarkand

Samarkand International Airport is in the midst of an $80million redevelopment project, made possible through partnership with Air Marakanda and Uzbekistan Airports, which will be more equipped to serve the country’s population of 3.9 million in their travels. The renovated SKD will become Uzbekistan’s hub for international travel and will be able to hold triple the amount of passengers as it had previously.

The airport is also set to welcome a significantly larger amount of passenger traffic, as calculated by Lufthansa Consulting. By the end of its expansion, SKD will be seeing growth from 480,000 annual passengers to an estimated 2 million.