CAIRO: The first direct and regular airline linking the Egyptian and Uzbek capitals will start operation next Tuesday, announced Atta Bek Merza Mohamedov, deputy director of the Uzbek national carrier s office in Cairo. The maiden flight run by Uzbekistan Airways is scheduled to land at Cairo International Airport next Tuesday at 21:30 Cairo time, added Mohamedov. A big delegation comprising of officials and a musical band will come to celebrate the event at the airport s old hall, before returning to Tashkent on the same day, he noted. Mohamedov asserted that the new airline, the first to link North Africa and Central Asia, would contribute towards a surge in trade exchange and tourist flow. The Uzbek national carrier will run two flights a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. The flight duration is five and a half hours. Running the airline is one of the issues that Egyptian and Uzbek Presidents Hosni Mubarak and Islam Karimov agreed upon during their summit in Cairo last April.
