Air Samarkand launches Tel Aviv link
April 10, 2025
Following the reopening of Ben Gurion’s Terminal 1 at the end of March, Uzbekistan carrier, Air Samarkand, has announced that as of May it will be serving direct flights between Samarkand and the Israeli capital of Tel Aviv.
The once weekly service will be operated using an Airbus A321 aircraft and marks “an important step in the further development of ties between Uzbekistan and Israel,” said Zafar Butayev, CEO of Air Samarkand. He emphasised that the development of the new route is in response to growing demand both from the business community and leisure travellers.
Tel Aviv re-opened Terminal 1 at Ben Gurion Airport at the end of March. It was temporarily closed in 2023 following the October 7 attacks and a sharp decline in international tourism.
The Israeli Airport Authority (IAA) predicts that the terminal will serve more than 1,370 flights in April, constituting around 25% of all flights at Ben Gurion Airport. In addition to Israeli airlines El Al, Arkia and Israir, international carriers including United Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, Wizz Air and Ryanair are all boosting services to and from Israel following the reopening of Terminal 1.
The development of Air Samarkand’s route coincides with recent initiatives to strengthen cooperation between Uzbekistan and Israel. In 2024, Israel supported Uzbekistan’s application to join the World Trade Organisation and in January this year representatives from Uzbekistan and Israel discussed labour migration issues with the aim of expanding socioeconomic cooperation.
The new service is also in line with the Uzbek carrier’s plans to increase the frequency of services to key destinations and add new international city destinations. The airline launched its first scheduled services in March 2024 to the Turkish capital of Istanbul and has steadily grown its network since, launching flights from its base in Samarkand as well as Tashken to Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in the UAE, Jeddah and Medina in Saudi Arabia and the tourism hotspots of Nha Trang and Phú Quóc in Vietnam and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
