Regional airline Silk Avia has received its fourth aircraft, the press service of Uzbekistan Airports reported.

The ATR 72-600 aircraft arrived in Uzbekistan from the French company’s plant in Toulouse, with a technical landing in Istanbul. On February 16 at 15:00 the plane landed at Tashkent airport, where it was greeted by a water arch.

This is the first aircraft received in new condition. It is planned to release it on routes in the coming days.

In October 2022, Shavkat Mirziyoyev approved the purchase of aircraft by Silk Avia and instructed to provide the company with a loan of $50 million for this purpose. The first three aircraft arrived in March-April 2023, now the company is awaiting the arrival of nine more aircraft.

At the Discovering Uzbekistan conference, it was reported that Silk Avia plans to purchase 10 aircraft. It was planned to completely cover 40 planned routes in all cities of Uzbekistan (except Karshi and Navoi) by 2025.

From April 2023, Silk Avia began commercial flights. The former head of Uzbekistan Airports Rano Jurayeva described the carrier’s operating principle as an “air route” for budget flights.