DUSHANBE, June 14, 2012, Asia-Plus -- Boeing 737-300 landed at Dushanbe International Airport yesterday.

Tajik air company, Somon Air, has taken this aircraft on a finance lease.  According to the Somon Air press center, Somon Air conducted negotiations on obtaining this aircraft with Boeing Capital Corporation.

The aircraft will be named after the National Hero of Tajikistan Nusratullo Makhsoum.

According to Wikipedia, the 737-300 was launched in 1981 by both USAir and Southwest Airlines becoming the first model of the 737 Classic series. The aircraft has a typical capacity of 128 passengers in a two class configuration (137 seats in a one class coach seating configuration).  The 300 series remained in production until 1999 when the last aircraft was delivered to Air New Zealand on December 17, 1999.

The Somon Air management says the obtained Boeing 737-300 has 149 seats.

Somon Air is an airline based in Dushanbe.  It is Tajikistan''s first private airline.  Somon Air is also the first airline in Tajikistan to launch an online booking system. The airline uses the Boeing 737 in its fleet.  The fleet of Somon Air now consists of the following aircraft: Boeing 737-300 (2); Boeing 737-800 (2); and Boeing 737-900 (2).

Somon Air now operates to the following destinations: China (Urumqi); Germany (Frankfurt am Main); Kazakhstan (Almaty); Russia (Irkuts, Khanty-Mansisysk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Orenburg, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Tuymen and Yekaterinburg); Saudi Arabia (Jeddah); Tajikistan (Khujand); Turkey (Istanbul); Ukraine (Kyiv, Simferopol); and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai).