DUSHANBE (TCA) — Commercial flights have resumed between the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, and the Uzbek city of Bukhara amid improving ties between the two Central Asian neighbors, RFE/RL reported.
A plane from the Tajik private airline SomonAir arrived in Bukhara’s international airport on August 6, the first commercial flight between the two cities in more than 25 years.
Uzbekistan’s national airline resumed flights from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, to Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, in April 2017 after a quarter-century break.
Ozbekiston Havo Yollari then said that it planned to operate regular Tashkent to Dushanbe flights twice a week using Airbus A-320 passenger planes.
SomonAir launched regular flights to the Uzbek city of Samarkand last month.
Passenger flights between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were halted in 1992 when the Tajik civil war broke out.
Relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been strained for years over disputes including transit routes, border security, and the sharing of water resources.
The ties began to improve after new Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev came to power in 2016, vowing to seek close ties with neighboring countries.
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan launched a regular bus service between Tashkent and the northern Tajik city of Khujand in May.
Officials in both counties say more flights and bus services connecting Tajik and Uzbek cities will be announced in the near future.
