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Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 10/97 UZBEKISTAN AIRWAYS: LIGHT AND SHADOW by Heiko Reuter The air conditioning is not working right, turning the one and a half hour flight on this hot summer day into torture. The cockpit crew is suffering the most. The sun is burning merciless into the tight room. Two small battery-powered fans are turning in vain against the heat. After half an hour, the flight engineer has enough and takes off his shirt, now monitoring the systems of the 25 year old Yak 40 with bare upper body. Uzbekistan: a country in the change. The former soviet republic, with a population of 22 million the largest in central Asia, wants to catch up with the West. Flag carrier Uzbekistan Airways was formed five years ago from Aeroflot left-over. Now, the airline is the number two of the numerous CIS carriers according to passengers carried. However, air transport has two faces in Uzbekistan. The aged Yak 40, which flies on a domestic route from the capital Tashkent to the antique place Buchara, would have been grounded by any western aviation administration official. Flat and worn tires seem to signal that a walk by foot would be much safer. Loose seats in the cabin, broken arm rests, sharp hooks that extend from the rotten paneling: the 32-seat short-distance airliner can easily turn into a death trip during an aborted take-off or an emergency landing. The lavatory is not suitable for passengers with weak nerves either. In the afternoon the weather is not as hot any more and the flight back to Tashkent is a little easier to bear. The airport in Buchara has inspired its visitors not with confidence. The runway might as well be used a pothole test course. It is hard to believe that supposedly millions have been invested into the expansion and modernization of the airport. For the security check, the travelers are asked into a blue-painted wooden barrack. However, it's closed and the key is missing. After ten minutes, a red-haired women wearing a mini-skirt and high-heels shows up and unlocks the door. When the fist passenger steps through the security sluice, a bone-shattering noise arises. The man is scared, everyone laughs, including the uniformed security official. He skips the recheck of this passenger. Airbus, Boeing, Thomson-CSF and now AI(R) are the symbols for the new side of air traffic in Usbekistan. Four years ago, the young republic began to set up a western fleet. Banks from the west helped in the financing. Uzbekistan Airways now connects to Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and New York with Boeing 767 and Airbus A310s. Two of the widebodies are almost new, the oldest one just seven years old. In passenger surveys, the carrier would probably not get a prize for its service and seating comfort. Still, the product is acceptable and the carrier does not seem to spare on the maintenance. Boeing technicians are present in Tashkent. They are training the Uzbekistanian mechanics. So are German colleagues. Lufthansa Technik has given Usbekistan Airways a start-up help. Since 1993, the Germans are delivering a total technical support for the two Airbus A310s and since the beginning of 1997 also for the Boeing 767 fleet. It is said that the Uzbekistanian technicians are eager to learn. Not to far from now, Usbekistan Airways wants to open its own maintenance basis for western aircraft. A British regional jet is marking another milestone of the company. When the first of three ordered Avro RJ85 arrived in Tashkent in the beginning of July, hundreds of people gathered to to welcome the aircraft which is painted in the national colours blue, white and green. The Swiss airline Crossair will be responsible for the maintenance. The regional jet is supposed to help in pushing the country's tourism. Samarkand, Buchara, and Kokand are the perls in the post-Soviet orient in which foreigners from the west with dollars in their pockets will be transported. And these tourists rather fly with technology that they are not scared of. Eight months ago, the Uzbekistanians have opened a 38-million dollar air traffic control center, working with the newest technology from Thomson-CSF. The chief only speaks Russian. When the second building phase is completed in a year and a half from now, practically every corner of the country will supposedly be covered by the center - by far not a standard in the CIS states. An IATA expert said that the Uzbekistanians are charging foreign carriers high fees for overflying their territory. Seven years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, capitalism is flourishing. Whoever plans to fly from Tashkent to a destination in the west must first pay 50 dollars airport tax. Travelers in the USA must do the same. However, they generally find themselves in much more comfortable airports. Tashkent's new terminal building could be anywhere in West Europe. Still, only domestic flights are departing from here. In spite of the western course, the left-over from the socialist history is still omnipresent. Airports, air traffic control, and airline used to be one complex. Now, these areas are split at least organizationally. Still, Usbekistan Airways is behind all three. Experts demand a further split of the individual units. One even says that today's set-up is a resemblance of the Soviet system. Farther away from the gates, the Tashkent airport looks like a aircraft grave yard. The engines are dismounted, the cockpit covered with tarpaulins: most of the Yakovlevs, Tupolevs and Iljuschins which are parked here will never fly again. They are degraded to spare part storage. Sometimes, only the bare fuselage is left over, exposed to wind and weather. The fleet of Usbekistan Airways includes 200 aircraft, most of them coming from former Aeroflot inventory. However, an airline official says that only 60 of them are flyable. Some of the Iljuschins are only seven or eight years old. They are used for the services to Russia, Kazakhstan or Kirghizia. Usbekistan Airways connects to approximately 30 destinations in the Russian and the surrounding Central Asian republics. None of them is serviced with the western airliners: air traffic in Usbekistan is a two-class society. A seat in a west airliner has its price. A ticket for the Avro RJ costs approximately 30 percent more than a flight in a Russian aircraft. A one-way ticket from Tashkent to Buchara is charged with 100 dollars, which is approximately the monthly income of a worker. At least, one does not have to be scared in that aircraft, says Arslan Ruzmetov. The man seems to have not very much confidence in the Russian airliners. He should know: Ruzmetov is the head of Usbekistan Airways. From page 28 of FLUG REVUE 10/97 Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 10/97 Copyright 1997 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated September 5, 1997 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany