Tajikistan’s privately owned air carrier Somon Air will operate a charter flight to the Belarus capital of Minsk on August 30.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the plane will carry there Tajik students studying in Belarus and Ukraine as well as citizens of foreign countries and will bring back Tajik nationals stranded in Belarus and Ukraine due to the coronavirus crisis. 

Tajik diplomatic missions in Minsk and Kyiv are reportedly ready to contribute to providing transit from Minsk to Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine, the Tajik MFA information department says.  

Persons wanting to travel from Minsk to Dushanbe by this charter fight will have to show a negative coronavirus test completed within 96 hours (four days) before departure.  Children under 3 years old are exempted from producing such a certificate. 

Somon Air is the first private airline in Tajikistan with an office headquartered in Dushanbe.  The airline operations are based at Dushanbe International Airport.  The airline started operating on February 5, 2008 with regular flights to Moscow and Dubai.  Somon Air also serves as the official carrier of President of the Republic of Tajikistan and other Tajikistan high-ranking officials.

Recall, Tajik authorities have suspended all international flights.  Tajikistan closed all its airports at midnight on March 19-20 due to the coronavirus concerns.  Only charters flights to repatriate Tajik nationals stranded in foreign countries due to the coronavirus crisis have been operated so far.