Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Sept. 13
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Turkmenistan Airlines agency (Tukmenhowayollary), the flag carrier of the country, has signed a contract with the US Boeing to purchase a new Boeing 777-200LR plane, the delivery of which is scheduled for January 2021, Trend reports citing the company.
The agency is supervised by the Ministry of Industry and Communications of Turkmenistan.
The Boeing 777-200LR is worth $346.9 million, according to Air Transport World. The appropriate model was chosen with the aim of expanding international operations to Europe and Asia and beyond. Boeing 777-200LR can accommodate up to 317 passengers in a configuration with two classes.
The current fleet of the airline consists of eight Boeing 737-800, four Boeing 737-700, four Boeing 757-200, three Boeing 777-200LR and five cargo aircraft IL-76TD.
Turkmenistan Airlines transports about two million passengers per year. With the growth of the airline’s fleet and the development of the route network, the number of passengers increases annually by 15-20 percent, according to the airline’s website.
Representative offices are opened in 11 biggest cities in Asia and Europe. Flights to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Bangkok, Delhi, Amritsar, Beijing, London, Birmingham, Dubai, Istanbul, Almaty are especially popular.
In February, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended the flights of Turkmenistan Airlines to the EU pending confirmation of the compliance with international flight safety standards.
The negotiations are underway, but the resumption of flights in this direction hasn’t yet been reported. Turkmenistan Airlines announced the future launch of flights from Ashgabat to Jeddah, Medina, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Hanoi, Vienna, Sofia, Budapest, New York, Toronto, Madrid, Jakarta, Muscat, Kuwait City, Singapore, Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and Cairo.