Turkmenistan seeks to upgrade its aviation industry
By Nigar Abbasova
Turkmenistan's national flag carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines has recently expanded its aircraft fleet through purchasing of a number of Boeing aircrafts, the Turkmen government reported.
The airline acquired as many as three Boeing – 737-800 aircrafts in 2013 as well as two Boeing - 777-200 LR aircrafts in 2014. The airline took a decision on the purchase of some three Boeing -737-800 aircrafts in April, 2015.
Moreover, the Airline is carrying out a research in order to acquire aircrafts with the capacity of 50 and 100 passengers, manufactured by different companies for the use in domestic flights.
Currently, the company operates domestic and international passenger and cargo services mainly from its hub located at Ashgabat International Airport and the geography of its destinations is growing steadily.
The country has recently reached an agreement on the air traffic with Luxemburg. Cargolux Airlines International, one of the leading cargo airlines launched operation of cargo flights en route Luxembourg (LUX) – Turkmensbashi (KRW) in June, and Luxembourg (LUX) – Ashgabat (ASB) in July, 2016.
The company also in talks on the perspective of cooperation with the Turkish low-cost airline Pegasus, which is expected to operate flights en route Istanbul (IST) - Turkmensbashi (KRW) in the short run.
Construction of new International Airport in Ashgabat is underway. The airport is expected to become the largest in the Central Asian region. The country seeks to become one of the largest intercontinental transportation centers.
Another international airport is in under construction in the Turkmenabat city, a center of Lebap province that has borders with three provinces of Turkmenistan - Mary, Ahal and Dasoguz.
The construction of modern landing strip length of 3,800 meters has been recently completed in Dadhoguz Airport, which performs transportation of passengers, cargo, baggage and mail.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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