Central Asian aviation sees opportunities in Ukraine crisis

Central Asian airlines are seizing opportunities from Russia's closed airspace, with airline traffic into the region booming in the year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, executives and analysts said. Flights in and out of the region have surged as airlines that previously flew over Russia are now passing through or flying over central Asia to get to Asia and the Middle East. New airlines, bolstered by government support, have also popped up to capitalise on the new traffic. "A lot of people have moved from the conflict area into Central Asia...they have the linguistic affinity so we're seeing more flights into this area and we're seeing more dynamic economies," said Raphael Haddad, the head of JetCraft Commercial, a firm that sells aircraft globally and in the region. Since the early days of the war, Russian airspace has been closed to dozens of Western countries. As a result, flights between many European countries and Uzbekistan have risen 105.9% since 2019 and 36% since January of 2022, according to Eurocontrol data. Kazakhstan's Aviation Administration says passengers are up 16.5% year-on-year, while Kazakhstan's Air Astana announced 2022 as its best year ever with after-tax profit at $78.4m. In Uzbekistan, authorities have helped launch a new airline called Silk Avia and another called Air Samarkand, hoping to capitalise on the increase in traffic. "The startups, some of them are supported by local governments or local businessmen that have seen an opportunity to enter a market which is becoming a more dynamic," Haddad said. The shift comes as European airlines struggle to figure out new routes into Asia since the closure of Russian airspace, while Russian airlines grapple with challenges in serving their local travellers still keen to go on holidays abroad.<br/>