Tajik Air

Tajik Air
IATA ICAO Callsign
7J TJK TAJIKAIR
Founded
  • 1923 (as division of Aeroflot in Tajikistan
  • 1991 (became independent)
Hubs
Fleet size 15
Destinations 19
Company slogan National airline of Tajikistan
Parent company Government of Tajikistan
Headquarters Dushanbe International Airport
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Website tajikairlines.com/

State Unitary Aviation Enterprise "Tajik Air" (Tajikistan Airlines) is the national airline of Tajikistan. It has its head office at Dushanbe International Airport in Dushanbe.[1] The airline has its main hub at Dushanbe International Airport, and it retains a secondary focus point at Khujand's Khudzhand Airport.

History

The first flight of the airline was from Bukhara to Dushanbe on 3 September 1924 by a Junkers F.13 aircraft, initiating development of civil aviation in Tajikistan. The first aircraft appeared in the capital two years earlier than the car and five 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, a first class airport was built in Dushanbe. One year later airports were built in Kulyab, Garm, Panj and Dangara where regular flights were operated from Dushanbe. Aviation of Tajikistan developed rapidly as the air fleet expanded. 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, reducing the travel time of passengers of the mountain regions of the Pamirs, Karategin, blooming valleys of Vakhsh, Hissar by tens or hundreds of times. 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 Lisunov Li-2 and Junkers Ju-52 aircraft. The first flight by the crew of the Li-2 aircraft was operated on the route Stalinabad - Moscow. In the 1950s and 1960s aviation in Tajikistan was one of the most developed sectors of the national economy of the Republic. From 1951, Antonov An-2s were utilized in the fleet of the Tajik Department of Civil Air Fleet and in 1954 Ilyushin Il-12s were introduced by which the first flight on the route Stalinabad - Sochi was operated. Between 1956 and 1964, Ilyushin Il-14, Ilyushin Il-18 and Antonov An-6 (high-altitude version of the An-2) aircraft joined the fleet, as well as Mil Mi-4 helicopters.

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 landed an aircraft (an An-6) on the ice of the Sarez Lake. In 1960, the first flight on the route Stalinabad - Moscow was operated by an Ilyushin 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 established. On March 3, 1960, the passenger terminal and runway were put into operation. The airway Stalinabad - Frunze - Alma-Ata, Novosibirsk was opened. In the 1970s and '80s pilots and navigators of the Tajikistan Civil Aviation Authority mastered such aircraft as the Tupolev Tu-154, Yakovlev Yak-40, Antonov An-26 and Antonov An-28. In 1979 the first flight to Afghanistan was operated by an Il-18 aircraft on a humanitarian mission. In 1984 the automatic reservation system "Sirena" for booking seats on the domestic airlines was introduced. 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 and Aa-28 aircraft utilization, the Tajik Civil Aviation Authority won first place in the USSR's Air Fleet. In the 1990 -1991 period the aircraft-helicopter fleet of the aviation enterprise was expanded with Ilyushin Il-76 and Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft; and Mil Mi-8 helicopters. The first in Central Asia transponder "Zardak" was built and air service on the route Dushanbe-Ürümqi was opened.[2] It is the sixth oldest airline still in operation.

In 2008, Ashutosh Beenessreesingh was named CEO of the company. He has since realized significant cost reductions that have helped bottom line increase twofold.

A Tajik Air Antonov An-26
A Tajik Air Tupolev Tu-154
A Tajik Air Boeing 737-300
A Tajik Air Boeing 737-500

Destinations

Tajik Air serve the following (as of December 2014):[3]

Asia

Central Asia

 Kazakhstan
 Kyrgyzstan
 Tajikistan

East Asia

 China

South Asia

 India

Western Asia

 Iran

Europe

 Russia

Codeshare agreements

Tajik Air has codeshare agreements with the following airlines ( as of January 2013):

Fleet

A Tajik Air Boeing 757-200 at Istanbul Atatürk Airport, Turkey. (2009)

As of January 2013 the Fleet of Tajik Air consists of the following aircraft:[6]

Aircraft Active Orders Notes
Antonov An-26 1 0
Antonov An-28 2 0 Used on flights to Khorogh only
Boeing 737-300 1 0
Boeing 737-500 2 0 In service for FlyLAL, leased from Small Planet Airlines
Boeing 757-200 3 0 One leased from Nordwind Airlines
Yakovlev Yak-40 1 0
Sukhoi Superjet 100 0 2 2 under option
Tupolev Tu-154M 2 0
Xian MA60 2 0
Mil Mi-8 3 0 Helicopters, not in scheduled passenger service
Total 15 2

Accidents

On 28 August 1993 a Yakovlev Yak-40 crashed during take-off in Khorog on a flight to Dushanbe Airport. All five crew and 77 of the 81 passengers died. The aircraft 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[7]

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 six of the seven crew members died.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 30 March-5 April 2004. 78. "Titov Street 31/2, Dushanbe International Airport, Dushanbe, 734006, Tajikistan."
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Tajik Air schedule
  4. ↑ "Первый самолет по маршруту Душанбе-Пекин вылетит 22 февраля". Avesta.tj. "Muhammad-Bilol" Ltd. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Tajik Airlines Flight Schedule".
  6. ↑ Fleet of Tajik Air (Russian) Archived July 9, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ AviationSafety database on aircraft reg. 87995, retrieved 9 May 2009
  8. ↑ AviationSafety database on aircraft reg.EY-85281, retrieved 9 May 2009

External links

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