Uzbekistan to see two more start-ups in 2021 - minister

Uzbekistan Airways sells stake in duty-free retailer

Uzbekistan Airways (HY, Tashkent Islam Karimov) has gained UZS400.34 million soums (USD37,000) by selling its 23.3% stake in Central Asia Megastar to Uzbekistan Airports, according to the country’s Unified Portal of Corporate Information.

The companies finalised the deal by signing a sale and purchase agreement for the Tashkent Islam Karimov-based duty-free retailer on July 29. By August 2, Uzbekistan Airports had added the company to its list of affiliates.

Central Asia Megastar was established in April 1991 and has an authorised capital of UZS1.71 billion (USD157,000). Its other owners are the Uzbek retail firm Premium Globe Investment (51.1%) and the state of Uzbekistan (25.6%).

It runs Duty Free shops at Tashkent (seven shops and two bars), Bukhara, Samarkand, and Urgench airports as well as at the Termez border post with Afghanistan and a store in Tashkent only for diplomats and individuals accredited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Uzbekistan Airports has recently been investing in overhauling the country’s airports before launching tenders for commercial activities.

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Uzbek CAA denies rumours about start-up Panorama Airways

Uzbekistan’s civil aviation authority (O’zaviatsiya Agentligi) has emphatically denied rumours that have been spreading online about the emergence of a new airline in the country by the name of Panorama Airways (Tashkent Islam Karimov). Online sources had claimed that two A320-200s were already in Tashkent undergoing pre-delivery maintenance while an ex-Singapore Airlines B777-300 - ER-77739 (msn 32327) - was being prepared in Bishkek.

“Reports in the mass media about the creation of a new airline in Uzbekistan, Panorama Airways, and its imminent performance of flights on Airbus A320 and Boeing B777 aircraft is not true,” the authority said on June 29.

It stressed that “in order to carry out any activities related to the use of aircraft in civil aviation, the requirements of Article 44 of the Air Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan and [regulations] approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, any legal entity or individual must obtain an air operator’s certificate from O’zaviatsiya Agentligi in the prescribed manner.”

“The organisation calling itself Panorama Airways has not...