Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, on 24 April, Silk Avia operated its first landmark demonstration flight aboard an ATR 72-600 aircraft on Tashkent-Samarkand-Tashkent route.

The first flight with passengers was preceded by a solemn opening ceremony of the airline - tomorrow the airline will start operating regular flights. The ceremony, which took place in the terminal of local airlines, was opened by Rano Juraeva, Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airports.

“A regional airline is a key gear in a large mechanism for developing not only the network of airports in Uzbekistan, but also developing tourism and stimulating business activity. This is an important little detail that allows the huge colossus to move. It assumes the functions of linking regions together, delivering passengers from point A to point B on time, quickly and inexpensively. This is the so-called air route, which flies, for example, from Tashkent to Urgench, stopping at Samarkand or Bukhara on the way, leaving and picking up passengers. We have created an airline that connects Uzbekistan, making distances shorter and people closer,” said the head of Uzbekistan Airports.

The opening ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Natural Resources of Uzbekistan, Aziz Abdukhakimov, and the Deputy Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan, Jasur Choriyev. The guests noted the importance of opening the first regional airline for the development of domestic tourism and stimulating the economy of Uzbekistan, as well as creating competition in the rapidly developing aviation market of the country. 

The first deputy general director of the Agency for Strategic Reforms under the President Abdulla Abdukadyrov, director of the civil aviation agency Tokhir Nazarov, economic adviser to the French ambassador to Uzbekistan Francois Savier and representative of the ATR concern Dimitri Bursi also came to congratulate the airline on the opening.

The congratulations of the officials were continued by the artists of the national stage - Abdukhashim Ismailov, Zulaykho Boikhonova, Nasiba Abdullayeva, Sevara Nazarkhan and Farrukh Zakirov. Hits of honored and people’s artists, dedicated to the pearl cities and Uzbekistan, sounded at the Tashkent airport. After the solemn ceremony, guests and media representatives went to the landing of the demonstration flight US-131 on the route Tashkent - Samarkand.

Upon arrival in Samarkand, the aircraft was traditionally greeted with a water arch, and the crew was greeted with flowers to the sounds of karnay and surnay. A celebratory pilaf awaited the guests in the terminal. After a hospitable reception, the passengers of the demonstration flight took flight US-132 to Tashkent.

It is worth noting that on April 20, Silk Avia received an air operator certificate and for four days carried out technical flights to commission the airline’s crews by ATR instructors. From 25 April, the airline will start regular flights according to the approved schedule, available on the company’s website.