DUSHANBE, June 18, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- A new private air carrier, Asian Express Airline, is currently waiting for approval of itinerary sheet.  The authorities, however, are not in hurry to issue the itinerary sheet to the company.

Asian Express Airline has been granted the operating license and it has already submitted more than 20 routes for consideration to the authorities.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Department under the Ministry of Transport says distribution of routes depends on the flight schedule and the summer flight schedule had been approved long ago.

“No changes are expected to be made to the schedule during the summer and all companies have been endorsed,” said an official source at the Civil Aviation Department.

We will recall that representatives of Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Holding Cont Groups of Tajikistan, which controls new start-up Asian Express Airline, noted in February that Asian Express Airline is expected to commence operations this year.  The start-up reportedly took delivery of its first ex-Vietnam Airlines A320 aircraft in Nov-2012.  The airline already has two BAe Avro RJ100s and one RJ85 aircraft, and plans to add more A320s and RJ100s.  Asian Express was originally planning to launch operations in 2007.  It has since been acquired by new investors who had planned to have the airline operational in summer 2012.  In February 2012, Asian Express announced plans initially to operate domestically in Tajikistan before launching services to destinations in bordering countries.  In the medium-term the airline plans to operate to Iran, the Middle East, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey.