One of the largest US airlines, United Airlines, is exploring the possibility of adding Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to its future international route network.
The company’s CEO, Scott Kirby, discussed the prospects for flights to Central Asia on the Cheeky Pint podcast, Live and Let’s Fly reports.
Kirby said that Patrick Quayle, who heads the airline’s team responsible for selecting new routes, visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2026.
The purpose of the visit was to assess the aviation markets in both countries and explore opportunities for launching new flights. However, the airline’s CEO said United Airlines is currently unable to operate flights to Central Asia because it cannot use Russian airspace.
“We can’t fly there right now because we can’t fly through Russian airspace. But it could happen in the future,” Kirby said.
According to Kirby, United Airlines does not rely solely on existing passenger flows and statistical data when selecting new routes.
The airline has a dedicated team that also looks for opportunities in markets that are underserved or have not been extensively explored by other carriers.
United Airlines has not yet made an official decision on launching flights to Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan. Live and Let’s Fly also described the news as an exploration of potential future opportunities rather than an announcement of new routes.
The English version of this material was generated with the assistance of AI translation tools and may differ slightly from the original text.
