"The programme (part of an improvement plan determined in December) provides for the procurement of aircraft and equipment, construction of airports, training of specialists, and improvement of service quality and flight safety," Merdan Atayev, a Turkmenistan Airlines transportation department specialist focusing on logistics, said, adding that its stage-by-stage implementation is already bearing fruit.
Turkmenistan Airlines now flies to 17 foreign cities, according to its website, including service to Paris that launched just before New Year's Day. By 2015, it will have 10 more international destinations, Atayev said.
The airline's fleet is growing too, according to data from Ashgabat International Airport. In 2013, three Boeing 737-800 aircraft and two AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters began service.
"In the first half of 2014, Turkmenistan Airlines will receive its first long-haul wide-bodied Boeing 777-200 LR, which will make non-stop flights to other continents possible," Atayev said. Presently, the airline flies no farther than Eastern Europe nonstop.
By 2030, under the aviation development programme, the country will have up to 40 Boeings.
Domestic air network to expand
Along with international flights, Turkmenistan Airlines proposes to develop the domestic flight network. It now offers regular service among Ashgabat and the oblast capitals but is planning eventually to fly to the district capitals too.
Last December, the government decided to buy 20 airliners capable of accommodating up to 100 passengers and to build five airports in each oblast's remote areas.
"We were interested in the 50-passenger French-[Italian] ATR 42-600 and the 19-passenger Czech Let L-410," Atayev, who does not rule out the possibility of buying Ukrainian An-38's and An-140's, said.
"The number of passengers flying domestically is bound to increase," he said. "A ... state commission will have the last word on the new purchases."
Turkmenistan Airlines employees in outlying districts welcome the planned boost to domestic air service.
"If everything that is planned comes to pass, it will be of the greatest benefit to those who live in remote districts," Erkebai Dosmedov, a communications specialist at Dashoguz Airport, said. "Тhey now have to travel two or three hours ... to their oblast capital to catch a plane."
Each oblast has its hinterlands, the inhabitants of which would like to fly in comfort, he said.
Pros and cons
Implementation of the civil aviation development programme in the provinces will lay the foundations for improving transport infrastructure and for creating new jobs, but profitability might be in doubt, according to the Economy and Development Ministry.
A large part of the population (about 70%) reports an average monthly wage of less than 572 TMT ($200), and citizens in this category would find it difficult to spend a fifth of their monthly income on a round-trip flight to Ashgabat, economist Rustem Vakhidov said, predicting that the majority of Turkmens will continue to take road or rail.
Flying is faster, Vakhidov said, but the cost might be prohibitive in some cases, especially since a trip by inter-city bus costs about a fifth of what the airfare would be.
"If the fares were more affordable, of course people would prefer to fly," Khaytan Gulgeldiyev, a cotton grower from Aibovur village, Dashoguz Oblast, said. High airfares could threaten the project's profitability, he said, agreeing with Vakhidov.
Another thing that could help the investment and civil aviation upgrade succeed would be for the country to buy airliners that suit the Turkmen climate and flying conditions, Atayev said.
But early indications are that the programme has some promise.
"The ... ATR-42-600 already had test runs on the Ashgabat-Mary route," Atayev said. "Reactions in the press and in official reports have been entirely positive."
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