UAE's flydubai to expand services to CIS region

Flydubai, Dubai's low-cost airline, on Sunday announced operations to two new destinations in the CIS region - Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan and Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

Flights to both cities will operate twice a week, with Osh beginning on April 24 and Dushanbe one week later on April 30, the carrier said in a statement.

flydubai's CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: "With the addition of these two new routes we now have a network of 20 destinations across the CIS which is a tremendous achievement.

"We marked our entry to the Kyrgyz market back in February 2012 with flights to the capital, Bishkek, and through adding Osh and Dushanbe we are able to link even more underserved destinations to our ever growing network."

He added that the past 12 months have seen overall air traffic between Dubai and Bishkek grow by 157 percent.

The 3,000-year-old city of Osh, is home to the largest outdoor market in Central Asia and for the first time will have direct air links to Dubai.

Tajikistan remains a largely untouched country with an emphasis on outdoor activities and a rich cultural history.

Flights to Osh will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays while flights to Dushanbe will operate on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Return fares on the Dubai - Osh route will start from AED1,595 while round trip fares to Dushanbe will start from AED2,000.