Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- During the panel discussion "Horizons for attracting investment in the tourism sector" at the First Tashkent International Investment Forum, answering a question about the role of airports in tourism development, Rano Juraeva, Chairman of the Board of Uzbekistan Airports, noted that the Samarkand airport is a modern and somewhat experimental project.

“This is a grandiose project that began to be implemented in 2019. The peak is in 2021. The most difficult thing was to build an airfield and an air terminal without stopping the operation of the airport. Flights were suspended for about a month before the opening of the airfield complex. Each of us had our own investment program. The public partner had the task of building an airfield, the private partner had a terminal. In general, the project cost about US$150 million. We opened it literally on 18 March. Now we are completing the commissioning of the airport complex, where a new service technology has been introduced that can increase throughput through new solutions for customs and border control, passenger and baggage check-in. From 1 April , the new terminal will operate in full force and serve international flights,” concluded Rano Juraeva.

The grand opening of the airport complex took place on 18 March. The project for the construction of a new terminal was implemented as part of the first public-private partnership agreement in the history of aviation in Uzbekistan between the FE LLC Air Maracanda and the state partner JSC Uzbekistan Airports. The new terminal allows to increase the number of scheduled flights from 40 to 120 flights per week, and the modernization of the apron has increased the number of aircraft parking spaces to 24.