On the sidelines of IATA AGM at Istanbul, on June 02, 2023, IndiGo announced its intention to operate six new international destinations. These include two from Mumbai – Nairobi and Jakarta, which will lead to IndiGo entering Africa for the first time and four from Delhi. The four destinations to Delhi are all to countries in the former Soviet Union, Tashkent – Uzbekistan; Almaty – Kazakhstan; Baku – Azerbaijan and Tbilisi – Georgia. Flights to Tashkent begin on September 22, 2023.
The airline has now opened reservations for its flights to Tashkent. The airline will operate four times a week from Delhi to Tashkent and deploy the A320neo on this route at the timings mentioned below
6E1805 DEL2050 – 2325TAS
6E1806 TAS0105 – 0510DEL
Flights from Delhi operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday, and Sunday; Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from Tashkent
Key Numbers and Competition
The Islam Karimov International Airport at Tashkent is named after the first president of Uzbekistan. It has two terminals, on the two sides of the runway and there are plans to move to a new airport at the end of this decade.
India – Uzbekistan trade has been growing consistently with the countries part of multiple organisations together. India exports Pharma products, Paints and Heavy machinery to Uzbekistan while it imports natural pearls, Lac and Gum amongst other things.
Uzbekistan Airlines carried roughly 11,000 passengers each way in Q1-CY23, this was above 15,000 pre-COVID, when the airline also operated to Amritsar and had started operations to Mumbai.
Currently, Uzbekistan Airlines operates five times a week to Delhi, deploying the A320/A321neo.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Tashkent is one of the most beautiful cities in Central Asia. Indian’s know it for the Tashkent Agreement of 1966 and the death of our then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. THe most populous city of Central Asia is also the capital of Uzbekistan. The city saw its first settlers around the third century BC. It is located close to border crossings with Kazakhstan.
The city has its own share of sights to see and also acts as a gateway for travellers who visit the country to travel to places like Samarkand, Bukhara of the Fergana valley. Uzbekistan has taken rapid strides in the last few years to welcome tourists, doing away with some very archaic rules, though some of the rules remain.
Network Thoughts
Almaty and Tashkent are two cities where I expected IndiGo to land much earlier than now. Both have had steady traffic flows and the timings from IndiGo clearly indicate a preference for connecting traffic over timing preference of local traffic. Indian’s love red eye flights but not the ones which land at the dead of night. IndiGo’s flights to Vietnam as well as the current expansion to the former USSR sees such flight timings, indicating its focus on international to international connection in absence of other carriers.
Time will tell how much market IndiGo has been able to corner or will it be forced to change the timings?
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