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| Founded | September 3, 1924 | |||
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| Hubs | Dushanbe Airport | |||
| Secondary hubs | Khudzhand Airport | |||
| Fleet size | 17 (+6 orders) | |||
| Destinations | 19 | |||
| Parent company | Government of Tajikistan | |||
| Headquarters | Dushanbe Airport Dushanbe, Tajikistan |
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| Website | tajikair.tj/eng/ | |||
State Unitary Aviation Enterprise "Tajik Air" (Tajikistan Airlines) is the national airline of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan. It has its head office on the property of Dushanbe Airport in Dushanbe.[1] The airline has its main hub at Dushanbe Airport, and it retains a secondary focus point at Khujand's Khudzhand Airport.
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The first flight of the airline was from Bukhara to Dushanbe on the 3d of September 1924 by the YU-13 aircraft initiated development of civil aviation in Tajikistan. The first aircraft appeared in the capital 2 years earlier than the car and 5 years earlier than the train.
For the first time, the Stalinabad airfield complex was formed and operation of new routes started over the Pamir mountain ranges. In 1930, the first class airport was built in Dushanbe. One year later the airports were built in Kulyab, Garm, Panj, Dangara where regular flights were operated from Dushanbe. Aviation of Tajikistan developed rapidly as the air fleet updated. Air transport became an essential branch of the country's national economy. Tajik aviation provided regular transport connection between the capital of the Republic and all the highland settlements in the hard-to-reach valleys of Vanch, Rushan, Shugnan, Bartang, Yagnob and others, for tens or hundreds times reducing the travel time of passengers of the mountain regions of the Pamirs, Karategin, blooming valleys of Vakhsh, Hissar. In March 1937, the Tajik Territorial Department of Civil Air Fleet was formed.
In 1945, the Tajik Department of Civil Air Fleet (TU GVF) received new aircrafts type YU-52 and Li-2. The first flight by the crew of the Li-2 aircraft was operated on the route Stalinabad - Moscow. In the 1950-1960th aviation in Tajikistan was one of the most developed sectors of the national economy of the Republic. Since 1951, aircrafts type AN-2 AHR were utilized in the fleet of the Tajik Department of Civil Air Fleet, since 1954 - IL-12 aircraft by which the first flight on the route Stalinabad - Sochi was operated. Since 1956 to 1964, the TU GVF's pilots mastered the aircraft types IL-14, IL-18, AN-6 (high-altitude version of the AN-2), helicopter MI-4.
Aviators of Tajikistan were always in the front line of development of the socio-economic potential of the country. For the first time in 1959, B.M. Vorobiev made heavy landing by AN-6 aircraft on the ice of the Sarez Lake. In 1960, the first flight on the route Stalinabad - Moscow was operated by IL-18. The TU GVF's structure was expanded and developed.
In 1959, the Leninabad aviation enterprise was founded and, in a year, the Kulyab airport was organized. On March 3, 1960, the passenger terminal and runway were put into operation. The airway Stalinabad - Frunze - Alma-Ata, Novosibirsk was opened. In the 70-80th pilots and navigators of the Tajikistan Civil Aviation Authority mastered such aircraft as Tu-154, YAK-40, AN-26, AN-28. In 1979 the first flight to Afghanistan was operated by IL-18 aircraft with humanitarian mission. In 1984 they introduced the automatic reservation system "Sirena" for booking seats on the domestic airlines. In 4 years the Tajik Civil Aviation Authority changed over to the new conditions of management and planning.
Judging by efficiency of the Yak-40, AN-28 aircrafts utilization the Tajik Civil Aviation Authority won the 1st place in the USSR's Air Fleet. In the 1990 -1991 the aircraft-helicopter fleet of the aviation enterprise was replenished with IL-76, TU-154M aircrafts, MI-8 MTV-1 helicopters. The first in Central Asia transponder "Zardak" was built and air service on the route Dushanbe-Urumqi was opened[2] It is the sixth oldest airline still in operation.
Tajik Air serve the following (as of July 2011):[3]
The Tajik Air fleet includes the following aircraft (as of February 20, 2010) [4]:
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antonov An-24 | 2 | ||
| Antonov An-28 | 2 | ||
| Boeing 737-500 | 2 | LY-AWF, LY-AWG | |
| Boeing 737-300 | 1 | EY-444 | |
| Boeing 757-200 | 1 | EY-751 | |
| Sukhoi Superjet 100 | 0 | 4 | |
| Tupolev Tu-154B2 | 2 | ||
| Tupolev Tu-154M | 4 | Two operated for Taban Air | |
| Xian MA60 | 1 | 1 | On order; will replace An-24s [5] |
| Total | 15 | 5 |
On 20 August 1993 a Yakovlev Yak-40 crashed during take-off in Khorog on a flight to Dushanbe Airport. All 5 crew and 77 of the 81 passengers died. The plane was configured to carry 28 passengers but was heavily overloaded. The crew was possibly forced to take-off by armed men. The aircraft overran the runway at high speed. The left and right main-gear struck an embankment and concrete structure and broke off. Thereafter the aircraft fell into the Panj River[6]
On 15 December 1997 a Tupolev Tu-154 crashed on approach to Sharjah International Airport. The aircraft crashed some 13 km from the airport. All 79 passengers and 6 of the 7 crew died.[7]
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