BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 6. Uzbekistan Airports and China's Loong Air are exploring the launch of direct flights between Xi'an and Fergana as part of broader efforts to expand air connectivity between the two countries.
This was reflected in the statement by Uzbekistan Airports following meeting between Uzbekistan Airports officials and a Loong Air delegation led by Xiao Wei, the airline's general manager for marketing.
The talks focused on expanding bilateral cooperation, including increasing frequencies on existing routes, improving passenger services and developing joint marketing initiatives with duty-free operators at Uzbek airports.
"The parties agreed to continue jointly developing the project to launch flights between Xi'an and Fergana, while also cooperating on increasing frequencies on existing routes to Tashkent and Samarkand," Uzbekistan Airports said in a statement.
A key topic of the discussions was the commercial viability of the proposed Xi'an-Fergana route. According to Uzbekistan Airports, the densely populated Fergana Valley has strong business activity and growing tourism potential, making it an attractive destination for international air services.
It was noted that the number of Chinese-invested enterprises operating in the Fergana Valley has increased in recent years, alongside a growing number of Chinese nationals traveling to the region for business and investment projects. These trends are expected to support sustainable passenger demand for the proposed route.
The discussions also covered expanding premium passenger services, including Fast Track processing and airport lounges, as well as joint promotional campaigns with duty-free retailers.
Loong Air, based in Hangzhou, currently operates nine scheduled flights per week to Uzbekistan on three routes: Xi'an-Tashkent, Chengdu-Tashkent and Xi'an-Samarkand. The proposed Fergana service would further expand the carrier's presence in the Uzbek market and strengthen air links between western China and one of Uzbekistan's largest economic regions.
