TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, December 28. Uzbekistan's Samarkand International Airport has entered the TOP 5 largest airports in Europe in terms of passenger traffic growth in the ranking of the European division of the Airports Council International (ACI Europe), Trend reports.
As per ACI, in October 2023, Samarkand Airport ranked fourth in the category of regional and small airports with passenger traffic from 100,000 to 1 million passengers per year with an increase of 139 percent compared to October 2022.
The company noted that the airport's route network continues to expand, and since the beginning of this year flights from Samarkand have been operated to 7 domestic and 20 international destinations.
Uzbekistan Airports JSC, which oversees all airports in Uzbekistan, and IP LLC Air Marakanda signed an agreement in September 2021 to modernize Samarkand Airport.
The project, worth more than $80 million, provides for the comprehensive development of the airport, the construction of airport infrastructure, as well as its operation.
In 2022, Air Marakanda, the operator of Samarkand International Airport, announced that it has received silver membership at the European branch of Airports Council International, the only global membership organization for airport operators and associations.