President Shavkat Mirziyoyev familiarized himself with the presentation on the construction of the Bukhara international airport on October 9th. This was reported by the President's press service here.
Significant efforts are being made in our country to modernize airports. This year alone, the airports in Shahrisabz, Kokand, and Zomin have been launched, while modernization has started in Namangan and Andijan.
The involvement of the private sector in airport management is also yielding results. Specifically, after the Samarkand International Airport was transferred to private management and modernized, the number of flights and passengers increased fivefold.
Such potential exists in Bukhara as well. However, the current airport there does not meet the demands of the population and tourists. The existing airport can serve only 400 passengers per hour or one million passengers a year, which is far below the demand.
The outdated systems for flight management and passenger services, as well as waiting lounges, limit the possibility to increase flights. The majority of tourists are forced to land at the airports of Tashkent, Samarkand, or Urgench to reach Bukhara. For example, in the first nine months, more than one million foreign tourists who visited Bukhara, 95 percent traveled by train or car.
The network of hotels and pilgrimage tourism is developing in the region. In the next three years, it is planned to increase the tourist flow to Bukhara to eight million.
Therefore, during our President's visit to the region on May 31st of this year, the construction of a new international airport in Bukhara district was initiated. This project, based on public-private partnership, will establish an airport in line with world standards. An opportunity will be created to serve 1,200 passengers per hour. New international airlines will be attracted by improving the quality of service for passengers and aircraft.
The presentation provided information on the technical and economic aspects of the project.
Our state leader emphasized the necessity to double the airport's capacity to allow for the arrival and departure of eight planes per hour. Recommendations were given concerning the terminal's conveniences, and its internal and external appearance.
