Tajik Air reports 8.7% boost in passenger numbers for 2017

The airline transported close to 356,000 passengers last year (Farrruh Pulatov / Wikipedia)

Tajik Air, with only 530 personnel, may be the relatively small national air carrier of the Republic of Tajikistan, but last year it transported more than one third of a million passengers (355,900) – just 31,000 more than in 2016, but an 8.7 per cent year-on-year improvement nonetheless.

The airline recorded a 4% increase in passenger load factor last year.

According to a brief press statement, the operator’s total revenue last year reached 580.8 million somoni ($66 million), with Tajik Air’s total expenses amounting to 576.5 million somoni.

In an attempt to facilitate the airline’s fleet modernisation program, and as part of the implementation of a wider program of government support for the carrier, President Emomali Rahmon earlier this year instructed the government to exempt the national carrier from customs duties and VAT obligations on imported aircraft.

The airline is hoping to broaden the reach of its route network, and preparations are in hand to implement new services to destinations, including Dushanbe-Delhi-Jeddah, Dushanbe-Delhi-Sharjah, Dushanbe-Baku, and Dushanbe-Asgabat. A new service linking Dushanbe with Urumqi in China is scheduled for inauguration from March 2018.

Although Tajik Air’s fleet currently consists of 34 aging aircraft, the airline reportedly operates only five of these, including a Boeing 767-300, a 757-200, a 737-300, an Antonov An-28, and a Mil Mi-8MTV helicopter.