DUSHANBE, October 21, 2011 Asia-Plus  -- Tajik national air carrier, Tajik Air, is launching a new air route to the Islamic Republic of Iran soon.

According to the Tajik Air press center, the national airline will launch the once-weekly service from Dushanbe to Mashhad, Iran’s second largest city after Tehran, beginning on November 13.  Tajik Air will use Boeing 737-500 to operate the flight to Mashhad.

The Dushanbe-Mashhad flight will be operated on Sundays and a ticket for the flight will cost 185 euros.

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.

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).

The Tajik Air fleet includes 34 aircraft; of them, eleven are in service: one Boeing 757-200; two Boeing 737-500s; two TU-154Ms; two AN-28s; one AN-24; one Yak-40; and two helicopters Mi-8MTV.