MAD DOGS OVER THE mountains

Stewart Marshall travels to Bishkek to meet Arun Kumar Singh, president and CEO of TezJet, to discover more about the Kyrgyzstani carrier and its eclectic fleet comprising RJ85s and MD-83s – including the last one ever built

MD-83, N984TW (c/n 53634), pictured on the ramp in Bishkek shortly after the delivery flight. The new registration EX-80017 is still taped over under the wing while the Kyrgyz CAA import paperwork is finalised

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TezJet president and CEO, Arun Kumar Singh

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Having been founded in 2013 with a solitary British Aerospace 146-200, EX-27002 (c/n E2172), TezJet has gradually built a reputable name connecting regional cities spanning the mountainous heartlands of Kyrgyzstan – the landlocked Central Asian country bordering Kazakhstan to the north, China to the east, Tajikistan to the south and Uzbekistan to the west. The current fleet of legacy aircraft comprise two British Aerospace Avro RJ85s and a pair of McDonnell Douglas MD-83s, based at Manas International Airport, 18 miles to the north of the capital, Bishkek. The old-school regional jets have an average age of 28 years and have mostly been retired elsewhere around the globe to make way for newer alternatives. Behind the scenes, the airline has been improving its processes over the last 18 months, creating efficiencies to enable international growth. It currently operates three domestic routes from Bishkek; to Jalal-Abad, Osh, Issyk-Kul (Tamchy), and two international services; to Tashkent in neighbouring Uzbekistan and Moscow/Domodedovo.

EX-27005 taking off for the early morning run to Osh. The Avro RJ85 was acquired from Greek carrier Ellinair in 2017

Fleet challenges

TezJet is eager to upgrade its aircraft, however external factors are affecting the procurement of new airframes for all operators within the country. A key challenge has been that Kyrgyzstan, along with other countries in Central Asia, was placed on the European Union Air Safety List or ‘blacklist’ in 2006. The Kyrgyz Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) is working to get the country removed from the list, which has led to aircraft lessors categorising carriers in the region as high risk and therefore liable to inflated leasing costs. Auditors from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) visited the country in March this year and will present their assessment to the European Parliament before the end of 2025. The geopolitical situation regarding Russia and Ukraine has also had an impact due to Kyrgyzstan’s close ties to Russia, which has left lessors reluctant to lease aircraft to its carriers, as they perceive the Russian connection a risk.