Samarkand named fastest growing airport in Europe and Central Asia
February 18, 2025
Uzbekistan’s Samarkand International Airport has been named the fastest growing airport in Europe and Central Asia, with 33.6% growth in 2024 over 2023 figures and 186% growth over the last five years.
According to Airports Council International (ACI) Samarkand Airport welcomed 1.38 million passengers in 2024 (+36.6% on 2023 passenger traffic) and grew twice as quickly as the next fastest growing airport of Olbia, which saw 18.4% growth in passenger traffic last year compared to 2023.
The number of take-off and landings at Samarkand increased by 23% in 2024 to 11,000 flight arrivals and departures. The growth in passenger traffic was primarily driven from overseas destinations with more than 1.31 million international passengers travelling through the airport’s ultra-modern terminal last year. The most popular flights from Samarkand were to Abu Dhabi, Istanbul, Jeddah, Moscow and St Petersburg.
Ulugbek Shamsikulov, CEO of Air Marakanda, the airport management company for Samarkand Airport emphasised, “the growth is reward for the visionary investment made in our ultra-modern 21st Century Samarkand Airport terminal during a challenging global epidemic.”
He also noted that the figures underline pent-up demand for air travel in the region and Samarkand’s position as a “fast-emerging centre for tourism and commerce in Central Asia.”
The airport which opened its futuristic terminal in 2022 is operated under a private-public partnership (PPP) model with the Government of Uzbekistan and Uzbek entrepreneur and investor Bakhityor Fazilov. “We have married new infrastructure and facilities like our airport with the unique historic and traditional features of this city,” said Fazilov. “We are now seeing the fruits of that investment, with our airport now becoming one of the world’s fastest growing.”
