LAHORE: Tajikistan’s private airline, Somon Air, restored its operations in Pakistan after six years. The airline is headquartered in the capital city Dushanbe and had its maiden voyage from Dushanbe to Islamabad on December 13; a day prior to Tajikistan’s President visiting Pakistan on an official two day visit. The airline is now the only one to provide a direct route between Tajikistan and Pakistan.
Soman Air’s operations will, however, be limited to non-scheduled flights.“They have been given permission to operate non-scheduled flights for the moment. It is up to them if they plan to start scheduled flights on the route as well” Saifullah Khan, Spokesperson Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, told Profit.
The company previously operated flights twice a week from Dushnabe to Lahore in 2016. The Lahore to Dushnabe route was seen as a diplomatic breakthrough between Pakistan and Tajikistan at the time but the operations did not last. Flights were reduced to once a week in July, and then the company ultimately ceased its operations entirely in August of that year.
Difference between scheduled and non-scheduled flights
Scheduled flights are those that operate regularly and are planned well in advance. Subsequently, flight schedules are drawn up to cover several months or even years at a time. Airlines are thus committed to flying the planes for the specified periods on the routes, whether they are filled or not.
Conversely, non-scheduled flights operate irregularly and require smaller periods between being planned and the flight actually taking off.
Non-scheduled flights generally operate only at peak periods on specific routes. “We are informed prior to each non-scheduled flight. Subsequently, an airline operating non-scheduled flights can have a non-traditional and variable schedule. It will depend on them and whenever the need arises for them to conduct flights.They will inform us accordingly.”
Non-scheduled flights generally occur when the airline is anticipating a full load or is able to create a full load through pre-selling tickets. Therefore, you could have one to two flights a month or even one to two flights a week depending on the demand for the routes.
