Air Samarkand will launch new twice-weekly services between Istanbul, Turkey, and the historic city of Samarkand, in Uzbekistan, from Thursday 21st March. Air Samarkand has also announced the appointment of Zafar Butaev as its new CEO, succeeding Anton Khodiayan, who will continue serving as an advisor to the airline while reverting to his position as Director General of the airport management company Air Marakanda.

Istanbul is one of the most sought-after destinations from Samarkand, connecting the largest city in Turkey with Uzbekistan through centuries-old cultural, business and tourism ties. Istanbul airport also offers extensive onward travel opportunities to cities worldwide, and Air Samarkand plans to add further flight options on the city pairing in the near future.

Departures from Samarkand are scheduled for 8 am, arriving in Istanbul at 11.10 am, with return services departing from Istanbul at 12:30 pm and arriving back in Samarkand at 7:00 pm (all are local times).

The inaugural scheduled service marks a significant milestone for any airline, and Air Samarkand will offer passengers a world-class standard of comfort and service on the direct flights. There is also significant demand for tourism, cultural and business customers on this route and Air Samarkand looks forward to developing close commercial ties in Turkey as it establishes this new service.

Air Samarkand will be offering customers an unprecedented baggage allowance of two checked bags weighing up to 23kg each, plus 8kg of carry-on cabin baggage.

Tickets for flights to Istanbul are available for purchase at easybooking.uz, as well as at travel agencies connected to the Easy Booking system, and at biletbank.com. Further sales will soon open on the airline’s own airsamarkand.com website, as well as on other popular online ticket platforms and aggregators.