Wizz Air has announced its first route to Uzbekistan. The new service, operated by Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, will be to Samarkand, the country's second-largest city and well-known on the Uzbek tourist trail because of the Silk Road. It is enabled by removing the bilateral air service agreement, eliminating market access restrictions, and freeing up entry for new airlines. It follows the ULCC's launch of Saudi Arabia and the Maldives.

Wizz Air to Uzbekistan

This article was written on October 13th. Exactly two months later, on December 13th, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will take off from the UAE capital to Samarkand, 1,274 miles (2,050km) away by the great circle distance.

Not surprisingly, it is the first time the airport pair will be operated by any airline. Indeed, even Dubai didn't have Samarkand flights until flydubai launched last month.

Wizz Air will serve Samarkand 2x weekly with 239-seat A321neos. It is scheduled as follows with all times local:

• Abu Dhabi to Samarkand: 06:30-10:45 (3h 15m)
• Samarkand to Abu Dhabi: 11:20-13:55 (3h 35m)

According to booking data from 2019, the UAE-Samarkand market is virtually nonexistent. Of course, this is based only on those who flew to/from the airport. It doesn't consider those who traveled overland from other airports, such as part of a tour. Ably demonstrating 'route experimentation', Wizz Air (and flydubai) will have to grow demand through low prices very strongly.

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Mainly about open skies

The attractiveness of Samarkand was not just about being Uzbekistan's second-largest city or tourism or its geographic location relatively near other fairly big cities.

It was also about market access and undoubtedly also highly attractive fees and charges. Writing on LinkedIn, Dmitry Martynenko, Commercial Director at Air Marakanda, an airport management company, said that:

"With joint efforts of the Uzbekistan government and Ministry of transport, we were heard and are now happy to announce that an open sky policy is now introduced for Samarkand Airport for... passenger flights without frequency and route limitations... With this measure now in place we are welcoming all airlines to take a look at Samarkand's market potential."

It's part of the city and country's ambition to grow tourism, benefiting economically. Early results seem promising. flydubai began the first ever Dubai-Samarkand flights on September 20th, albeit with an overnight service rather than Wizz Air's daytime option, followed by Azerbaijan Airlines from Baku on October 4th. Next is Mashhad, Iran, and then Wizz Air from the UAE.

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Second Central Asia country

Uzbekistan joins Kazakhstan on Wizz Air's expanding route map. The ULCC has served Kazakhstan since June 2017, when it linked Budapest to Nur-Sultan, the country's capital, then called Astana. In May 2021, Abu Dhabi to Almaty and Nur-Sultan started.

When Wizz Air's Uzbekistan flights take off, it'll have 10x weekly flights to Central Asia. Expect Abu Dhabi-Tashkent to be announced soon.

What do you make of the network development? Let us know in the comments.

• 

  Wizz Air

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  W6/WZZ

  Airline Type:

  Ultra-Low-Cost Carrier

  Year Founded:

  2003

  CEO:

  József Váradi

  Country:

  Hungary