KUALA LUMPUR: Batik Air Malaysia, an airline subsidiary of Indonesia's Lion Group, is planning to start direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tashkent, Uzbekistan by the end of this year.
Lion Group group strategic director Datuk Chandran Rama Muthy said Batik Air was looking to operate three times weekly flights between Malaysia and Uzbekistan with the first flight most likely commencing either in November or December this year.
He said Batik Air was ironing out several details with authorities from Islam Karimov International Airport (TAS) and awaiting their green light to start operating the flights.
"Tashkent is a bigger market compared to Almaty, Kazakhstan. (We're) still discussing (with TAS). Regulatory will take time," he told the New Straits Times today.
TAS is the largest international airport in Uzbekistan and the third busiest airport by passenger traffic in Central Asia in 2019.
On Thursday, the airport announced the partnership between its operator Uzbekistan Airports Joint Stock Company and Singapore's Changi Airports International to develop TAS as Uzbekistan's tourism industry was undergoing a rapid growth.
Besides TAS, Uzbekistan's national carrier JSC Uzbekistan Airways is also aggressively expanding its network worldwide including to Kuala Lumpur.
The airline started its direct Tashkent-Kuala Lumpur twice weekly flight since November 2022 while also expanding its network from Uzbekistan's capital to Paris, Milan, Beijing, Tokyo and Jakarta.
Uzbekistan Airways will commence flights to Bangkok in June this year.
Batik Air is also aggressively expanding its network in the Asia and Oceania region.
Just a few days ago, the airline announced that that it will be flying to Auckland, New Zealand via Perth, Australia from Kuala Lumpur using its Boeing B737 MAX 8.
The airline will most likely also use the narrow-body B737 MAX 8 on its Kuala Lumpur-Tashkent route as the aircraft could fly up to 8.5 hours or its wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft.
Currently, Batik Air's fleet comprises two A330s, 16 B737 MAX 8, seven B737-800 and eight turboprop ATR 72-600.