Uzbekistan Airways is the national airline of Uzbekistan, offering flights to various destinations worldwide, including the route from Delhi to Tashkent. We were supposed to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Tashkent, but due to a flight change and we did not want to miss two full days of our precious holidays, I rerouted to fly via Delhi instead.

HY424
Depart: New Delhi Terminal 3 12:50
Arrive: Tashkent Terminal 2 15:10

Uzbekistan Airways operates a fleet of modern aircraft, including Boeing and Airbus models, for its international routes. It was our first time flying with this airline.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Uzbek President Islam Karimov in 1992 authorised the creation of Uzbekistan Airways. The airline was established on 28 January 1992, and took over the operations of the Uzbekistan division of Aeroflot on 31 May 1992.

Since its formation, Uzbekistan Airways has focused its passenger service on Western Europe and other international locations. In Southeast Asia, there are direct flights from Tashkent to Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok but not very frequent. Before covid-19, there was a flight to Kuala Lumpur then to Singapore, but this segment was axed after covid, probability due to low passenger count. Most international flights operate from Tashkent, although international services to other Uzbek cities exist. The carrier is not part of any partnership or airline alliance.

Check-in process was slightly messy. There was not a long queue, except for a group of Uzbek ladies who obviously had done too much shopping in India and trying to check in their oversized baggage. For us, I was not sure why the airport staff wanted to take my phone over the counter even though he had located my booking after I told him the PNR. He also had to check with his senior staff on some procedure, so that took us some time. When we were issued the tickets, we noticed that we were not seated side by side, so I thought that it was a full flight. We then went to immigration and clear the security screening, which took around 35-45 minutes. It was so troublesome because despite the use of the metal detector, the security officer still did a manual pat down of all passengers.

We did not have time to spend at the lounge and went straight to the boarding gate. Airport wifi requires you to scan your passport at a machine, to generate a slip of paper with a one-time password. It is quite troublesome and at times, the Internet connection is not reliable.

Our plane was already at the gate when we arrived, so it was a short rest and to refill our bottle, before boarding the plane. There were many passengers crowded around the gate, so we took our time instead of joining the queue which was non-existent. Uzbek Airways doesn’t board passengers according to boarding groups.

Business class seats are not fully lie-flat. It just offers more spacious width and legroom. There are 8 seats in business class on this B-787 plane.

I was lucky to be allocated the emergency exit row seat and had lots of leg space. During checkin, my mum and I were separated. However, there was an unoccupied seat beside my mum so I changed to that seat shortly after takeoff. It was also along the emergency exit row.

The cabin crew cleared the food trays and dimmed the cabin lights to allow the passengers to rest. It was a short flight and no alcohol was served. I finished watching a movie and tried to catch forty winks. Soon the pilot announced that we were going to land. The crew prepared the cabin and we touched down. One or two passengers ignored the safety message and stood up to collect their bags while the plane was taxiing on the runway. It was appalling.

Immigration was smooth. There was no form to fill up and Singapore passport holders get free 30 days to spend in Uzbekistan. We were stamped into the country easily and headed to collect our bags.

I would like to fly with Uzbekistan Airways again, but their prices need to be more competitive. There are cheaper alternatives to get to Uzbekistan, such as on AirAsia, BatikAir or WizzAir (Abu Dhabi). We chose this route because of the better timing and connection.

Travel tip: You can change your money for good rates at the airport. The rates offered for USD to Uzbek som were almost the same as Google rates. There is also a telecom desk at the airport arrivals, where you can purchase a local sim card. Do download the Yandex app beforehand, it is very handy for booking a private hire car, which works like Grab. Prices are more affordable compared to dealing with one of the taxi touts waiting outside the arrival terminal.