Iran Chamber of Commerce has urged the Uzbek ambassador to Iran to further facilitate the process of launching a direct flight from Tehran to Tashkent, saying there have been talks with an Iranian airline to start the service.
“Recently, there have been talks about launching a direct flight from Iran to Uzbekistan,” Gholam Hossein Shafei, President of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) told Uzbek Envoy to Iran Bahador Abdullayev on Sunday.
“There have also been talks with one Iranian airline so that Iran Chamber of Commerce buys out some of the empty seats,” added Shafei.
The ICCIMA president noted that it’s been proposed that the airline fly from Tehran to Tashkent and then to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek in a bid for the airline to save costs and increase its margin of profits. “So, we ask the Uzbek Embassy in Iran to do the necessary work to make this happen,” Shafei stressed in the meeting that was held at the ICCIMA HQ in Tehran.
Abdullayev also stressed that his country welcomes direct flights with Iran, saying there have been negotiations with Uzbek airlines and that they have agreed to accpet Iranian airlines flying there.
Lack of direct flights between Tehran and several Central Asian capitals such as Tashkent, Bishkek o Nur Sultan (the Kazakh capital formerly called Astana) has always stood in the way of expanding Iran's trade ties with these countries.
As Iran gets closer to enter a Free Trade Zone (FTZ) with the five-member Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), that is, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Russia, Tehran feels the itch and has been hard at work to lauch direct flight routes with these nations. Iran Chamber of Commerce has been helping the government to launch these routes sooner.
Earlier in May, Kyrgyz Ambassador to Iran Avazbek Abdurazakov raised the issue with ICCIMA President Shafei, saying such direct air services will help booost bilateral trade.
“If there were such a direct flight, bilateral relations would develop more,” he said, expressing regret that Iranian and Kyrgyz businessmen and women have to arrive in Bishkek and Tehran through third countries.