DUSHANBE, December 17, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, has been granted a 60-percent discount for airport and air navigation services both on international and domestic routes.

Shavkat Vohidov, the head of the economic planning department, Dushanbe International Airport says the discount was given to Tajik Air in accordance with government’s decree on regulation of rates of fees for airport, ground and air navigation services for Tajik Air that was signed on October 30 and took effect on November 1, 2010.

According to the Antimonopoly Agency, the government also considered the possibility of exempting Tajik Air from paying airport and air navigation service fees for domestic flights.  The government considered the draft decree on this subject but it refused the decree for unknown reason, the source in Antimonopoly Agency said.

Meanwhile, the head of the civil aviation department within the Ministry of Transport, Firouz Ishonqulov, noted that it could not be ruled out that the government would consider once again the issue of exempting Tajik Air from paying airport and air navigation service fees for domestic flights.

We will recall that 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, including air carrier, several airports, fuel provider, and air navigation company.