Samarkand International Airport in the first half of 2023 exceeded the historical record and served 439,664 passengers, which is 121.4% or 241,080 passengers more than in the same period last year. Recall that in total, according to the results of 2022, Samarkand International Airport served 493,417, thereby beating the historical maximum of 2019 (+ 2.6%).
The increase in passenger traffic is due both to an increase in the number of flights of existing carriers and the attraction of new partners: in 2023, 2 foreign airlines (Jazeera Airways, Pobeda airlines) and one new regional carrier of Uzbekistan, Silk Avia, began flying from Samarkand Airport, which now operates flights to Samarkand International Airport from Tashkent (5 r/week) and Bukhara (1 r/week).
The main growth in passenger traffic fell on international destinations: 393,689 passengers (+116.9%) were served on these flights. The most popular flights in the first half of 2023 were flights from Samarkand to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
The volume of traffic on domestic airlines for the first half of the year amounted to 45,975 passengers (+169.7%), and Tashkent became the most popular domestic destination.
The national carrier of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan Airways, retained the first place in terms of passenger traffic at Samarkand Airport with a share of 27%, which amounted to 120,492 passengers.
Since the beginning of 2023, Samarkand International Airport has expanded its route network, and in just the first half of the year, flights from Samarkand were operated on 6 domestic and 18 international routes. Of these, Tel Aviv, Kuwait, Mineralnye Vody, Ufa and Samara have become new destinations, opened for the first time.