Samarkand International Airport in Uzbekistan grew twice as quickly as the next fastest growing airport of Olbia, Sardinia, Italy
Samarkand International Airport, the second-largest airport in Uzbekistan, has become the fastest growing airport in the Europe and Central Asia region, according to official figures released by the Airports Council International (ACI).
In a statement, Air Marakanda, a ground handling and management operator of the new terminal of Samarkand International Airport, says that the airport grew twice as quickly as the next fastest growing airport of Olbia, Sardinia, Italy, which witnessed an increase of 18.4 pc, owing to a significant 1.38 million passengers passing through the ultra-modern terminal equating to growth of 36.6 pc when compared with 2023.
The statement adds that while airports in Europe and Central Asia finally surpassed pre-pandemic figures of 2019 with 2.5 billion in passenger traffic, Uzbekistan’s historic city of Samarkand bucked that trend with 186 pc growth over the five-year period.
“Our growth is reward for the visionary investment made in our ultra-modern 21st century Samarkand airport terminal during a challenging global epidemic. These figures underline the pent-up demand for air travel in this historic region and Samarkand’s position as a fast-emerging centre for tourism and commerce in Central Asia,” says Ulugbek Shamsikulov, CEO, Air Marakanda.
According to the statement, business entrepreneur and investor Bakhityor Fazilov spearheaded the development of Samarkand International Airport in a first major public-private partnership with the Government of Uzbekistan.
“At the turn of this decade and together with our government we had a vision to develop tourism in Samarkand. We have married new infrastructure and facilities, like our airport and the Silk Road Samarkand tourist centre, with the unique historic and traditional features of this city. We are now seeing the fruits of that investment, with our airport now becoming one of the world’s fastest growing. Congratulations to everyone at Air Marakanda, a team that is delivering the kind of customer service excellence that will maintain the growth of Samarkand International Airport long into the future. We are delivering economic benefits for our historic home city, for this fast-developing region and for our country of Uzbekistan, and there is much more to come,” adds Fazilov.
While the ACI figures highlighted that overall passenger numbers were 1.8 pc above 2019 figures and 7.4 pc up on 2023, about 47 pc of airports still lagged behind their pre-pandemic volumes, says the statement.
According to Air Marakanda, in 2024, growth in passenger traffic at Samarkand was driven from overseas destinations, with more than 1.31 million international passengers passing through the airport. The most popular flights were from Samarkand to Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Jeddah, Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
The statement adds that the number of take-off and landing operations at Samarkand increased by 23 pc to 11,000 flight arrivals and departures. At the end of 2024, Samarkand International Airport expanded its route network to three domestic and 23 international destinations. Among the new destinations that opened last year were, Xi’an in China, Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Turkestan in Kazakhstan, and Tyumen, Nizhny Novgorod and Irkutsk in Russia.
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