Uzbekistani carrier, Centrum Air will start its second Indian gateway on September 28, 2026, with the launch of Hyderabad to Tashkent, twice weekly on the A320neo. C6 551 departs Tashkent at 21:00 on Mondays and 21:30 on Thursdays, landing in Hyderabad at 02:20 the following morning, while the return C6 552 leaves Hyderabad at 03:35 on Tuesdays and Fridays, arriving Tashkent at 07:45. The addition takes Centrum Air to seven weekly frequencies into India five to Delhi and two to Hyderabad.
This is a welcome addition for Hyderabad with a new destination and new airline, amidst the chaos caused by loss of passengers due to West Asia war. Hyderabad seen a drop of 11.5% in passenger numbers between April and August, compared to last year while its it has lost 13.9% passenger movements, shows data filed by GMR Airports with the stock exchanges.
Centrum Air entered India almost exactly a year earlier, launching Delhi–Tashkent on October 3, 2025, twice weekly on the A320neo. The frequencies have since increased to five times a week, amidst competition from Uzbekistan Airlines which was the sole carrier in Uzbekistan until recently. The expansion comes amidst inability of Indian carriers to serve Uzbekistan due to Pakistani airspace being unavailable for Indian carriers since last April. Uzbekistan has recently announced visa-free travel for Indians for a period of 30-days.
Betting on students, IT, and Telangana’s outbound leisure demand
The demand case leans on the same driver that justified Delhi: Indian student traffic to Uzbekistan, estimated at around 12,000 when Centrum launched in Delhi, and expected to triple in the coming years. Hyderabad brings a second leg to that case, a large IT and pharmaceutical business base generating its own point-to-point demand, alongside Hyderabad’s large capacity to handle medical tourism.
There’s a connectivity angle too. Centrum markets its Delhi service with onward links from Tashkent to Almaty, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Istanbul, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Copenhagen. Hyderabad passengers get access to the same network, positioning Tashkent as a secondary connecting hub for South India into Central Asia, the CIS, the Middle East and Europe, an alternative to the Gulf hubs that currently dominate Hyderabad’s long-haul connectivity, though the twice a week frequency does not provide many options in terms of connectivity.
Network Thoughts
Centrum Air lists its fleet at 16 airlines, comprising two A320neo, six A320ceo, four A321neo, four A330-300. Hyderabad is an interesting route and interesting to note that both its operations to India are operated by GMR Airports. Schedule listing shows that Uzbekistan Airways is suspending operations on its twice weekly service between Mumbai and Tashkent. The start of Hyderabad would mean that two points in India continue to be connected to Tashkent. Another private carrier Qanot Sharq is widely expected to launch flights to Delhi from Tashkent.
News reports have indicated that the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between India and Uzbekistan allows 28 frequencies a week each way. FlyOne Air has announced flights to Delhi from Tashkent starting November which will make the market even more dense. When will Indian carriers return to the sector? The answer lies in geopolitics.
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