(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, October 3. Uzbekistan's Civil Aviation Agency has granted Etihad Airways permission to operate regular flights to the country, Trend reports.

The carrier has been authorized to launch services on the Abu Dhabi–Tashkent–Abu Dhabi route, which will be operated with Airbus A320-232/251N and A321-231/251N/251NX aircraft.

Etihad earlier announced plans to expand its route network across Eurasia to seven destinations. In addition to Tashkent, new flights will be launched to Almaty (Kazakhstan), Tbilisi (Georgia), Yerevan (Armenia), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bucharest (Romania), and Medina (Saudi Arabia).

According to the company's schedule, flights between Abu Dhabi and Tashkent are set to commence on March 17, 2026, with a frequency of six times per week.

Meanwhile, earlier in autumn 2022, Etihad's subsidiary Air Arabia Abu Dhabi announced the launch of direct flights between the capitals of Uzbekistan and the UAE with a frequency of two flights per week. Air Arabia, which co-owns the low-cost carrier, had already received approval from Uzbekistan's aviation authority in 2020 to operate flights to the country and subsequently inaugurated the Abu Dhabi-Tashkent route. That same year, discussions also took place regarding the possibility of expanding services to other cities in Uzbekistan.

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