China Southern Airlines plans to launch between Urumqi and Samarkand

On August 9, representatives of China Southern Airlines met with the leadership of the Transport Ministry of Uzbekistan. The parties discussed the expansion of air communication between the two countries.

The company announced its intention to launch flights from Urumqi to Samarkand. It also plans to increase the number of Beijing-Tashkent flights to four per week.

In addition, the sides considered the issue of organizing flights under a codeshare agreement. The Ministry of Transport spoke about the current quotas in aviation, as well as plans for negotiations between the aviation authorities of Uzbekistan and China in October.

At the end of February, China Southern Airlines offered to establish flights between the capitals of the two countries, as well as from Guangzhou to Tashkent and Samarkand. Since March, the company has started operating flights from Beijing to Tashkent twice a week.

The company previously launched flights to cities in Uzbekistan several times but then suspended them. In particular, the carrier operated regular flights between Urumqi and Tashkent from 2012 to 2020 but stopped them due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2022, the company was one of the first in China to resume flights to the capital of Uzbekistan from Urumqi. This happened almost three months before Uzbekistan Airways began flying to China again.