DUSHANBE, July 22, 2014, Asia-Plus – Firouz Ishonqulov, who had previously served as the head of the Civil Aviation Department at the Ministry of Transport, was appointed director general of the private air carrier, Asian Express Airlines, replacing Suhrob Oymahmadov, Daler Abdullo, a spokesman for the Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Holding Cont Groups of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, Suhrob Oymahmadov was appointed an official representative of Asian Express Airlines and Holding Cont Groups of Tajikistan in Kashgar, China.   

Asian Express Airlines, which is controlled CJSC Holding Cont Groups of Tajikistan, was registered in Tajikistan in early 2013.  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.  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.