Speaking on May 5
at the Asian Development Bank
meeting in Samarkand, the Deputy Minister stated that the public-private
partnership agreement for the project is in its final stages and is expected to
be signed by mid-May. Regarding the fate of the existing airport, Choriyev
noted that the old one is planned to close once the new facility opens.
"Conceptually, there is a solution and agreed terms with the private
partner. If we open the new one, we must close the old one—this is logical.
Exactly what will replace it is still unknown," he said.
The new
"Tashkent" International Airport will be built on a 1,300-hectare site within the Urta Chirchiq and Kuyi Chirchiq districts
of the Tashkent region. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev officially signaled the
start of preparations in October 2025.
The decision to
build a new airport was driven by a threefold increase in passenger flow to the
capital over the last eight years, reaching 9 million people annually. This
figure is expected to exceed 24 million by 2040. The current airport, located
within the city, is designed for 11 million passengers.
The project is
being implemented under a Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) model. The consortium includes:
Vision Invest (Saudi Arabia) — 45%
Sojitz Corporation (Japan)
— 30%
Incheon International Airport Corporation (South Korea) — 15%
Uzbekistan Airports (Uzbekistan) — 10%
The project is
developed in four phases. The first phase, costing $2.5 billion, includes the construction of the airport terminal
and the airfield. Once completed, the airport will handle 20 million passengers
and 129,000 tons of cargo annually, supporting up to 30 take-offs and landings
per hour and accommodating 62 aircraft simultaneously.
The new complex
will connect directly to the Tashkent–Samarkand,
Tashkent–Andijan, and Tashkent–Bustonlik highways. Additionally, a
railway station for high-speed trains will be built, and bus services between
the centers of Tashkent and New
Tashkent will be established.
