Tajik Air’s flight personnel reportedly impeach credibility of the company’s top manager

DUSHANBE, February 7, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Flight personnel of Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, have reportedly impeached credibility of the company’s top manager.

According to a copy of minute of a meeting of the Tajik Air flying personnel, they decided to hold a meeting on February 4 after failed attempts to meet with the Tajik Air director general Muzaffar Ishoqov.

The document, in particular, says that the Tajik Air director general has accused the flight personnel of excessive consumption of fuels, threatening with introduction of financial measures or discharge.

The pilots note that for economic interests (realizing a superprofit through deceiving passengers and making pilots run themselves ragged) flights are operated with interim fueling at airports of Turkmenabad, Taraz, Shymkent, Bishkek, Ashgabat.  Passengers are not informed of intermediate flight stops.

The document notes that pilots are forced to fly on defective planes and with excessive takeoff weight and the director general allegedly imposes various sanctions on pilots refusing to fly on defective planes and planes with excessive takeoff weight, up to dismissal.

The Tajik Air press center refrained from making any comment, noting that the meeting minute was not officially registered.

Tajik Air (Tajikistan Airlines) is the national airline of Tajikistan.  The airline has its main hub at the Dushanbe airport, and it retains a secondary focus point at the Khujand airport.

The company started operations on September 3, 1924 as Tajik Aviation. Its first route was Bukhara to Dushanbe, served by Junkers F.13 aircraft.  It is the sixth oldest airline still in operation.

Until 2008, Tajik Air had an absolute monopoly in Tajikistan’s air transport, owning all planes, airports, and airport and flight services.  As a result of restructuring, Tajik Air was split up into several separate companies.

Tajik Air now serves the following destinations: China (Urumqi); Iran (Tehran); Kazakhstan (Almaty); Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek); Russia (Irkutsk, Moscow, Novosibirsk, St Petersburg, Samara, Sochi, Surgut, and Yekaterinburg); Tajikistan (Khorog and Khujand); and United Arab Emirates (Sharjah).