What a paradox: flying from Istanbul to Tashkent or Bishkek with Turkish airlines is half the price as flying to Ashgabat, though the distance and the flying time are much shorter.
Ticket prices for destinations like Dubai, Istanbul or Moscow with Turkmenistan airlines are similarly high though the national carrier pays almost nothing for fuel.Why are flights to and from Turkmenistan so expensive?
The answer is simple: Turkmenistan’s aviation was taken over by a group of corrupt officials.Today we name them and describe their secretive schemes.In 2024 the volume of air passenger transportation around the world exceeded the pre-COVID levels of 2019 for the first time.
Turkmenistan Airlines resumed some but not all of their flights.The Turkmen national carrier even introduced several new routes, replacing flights to Almaty, Ankara, Minsk, and Paris, which had been popular pre-COVID, with more exotic destinations, at least for the airline Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Milan, and Jeddah.
And although, according to the data of the International Association of Air Transport (IATA), the volume of passenger journeys carried out by Turkmenistan Airlines fell by 22% in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2019 (this is the worst figure in the region), it’s better than nothing.Foreign airlines China Southern Airlines, Fly Dubai, Turkish Airlines, S7, and Belavia also reinstated flights to Turkmenistan.According to the laws of the market, airfares fall when there is competition and the number of flights increases.
For example, dozens of airlines fly between the EU capitals and Istanbul and tickets cost $50 to $60 in the off-season.The distance impacts the cost as well of course: the shorter the flight, the cheaper the ticket.
But here’s a paradox: the distance between Istanbul and Tashkent is 3,367 kilometers.A Turkish Airlines plane makes the journey in three hours 50 minutes.A ticket costs up to $230.
The flight between Istanbul and Ashgabat is 2,537 km and takes exactly three hours, but a ticket for that flight costs $388.Or here’s another example: the distance between Dubai and Bishkek is 2,634 km and a Fly Dubai plane makes the journey in three hours 25 minutes.
The ticket costs $185.The distance between Dubai and Ashgabat is almost half that 1,440 km.It takes Fly Dubai two hours 10 minutes to make the journey but a ticket costs $418.Ticket price comparison from Istanbul to Tashkent and Ashgabat and from Dubai to Bishkek and AshgabatMoreover, it’s cheaper to refuel in Turkmenistan than in Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan.
And for Turkmenistan Airlines it’s practically free, but the national carrier’s tickets are as expensive as the Turkish carrier’s.Why are flights to and from Turkmenistan two or three times as expensive?
The answer is simple: because of the collusion of a small circle of Turkmen officials, who for their own benefit do not allow competition and the subsequent fall in prices.
The result harms the country’s economy and hits passengers in the pocket.Letter from Pegasus CEO to Mammethan ChakyevLetter from Pegasus CEO to Mammethan Chakyev “Flights three times a week on the IstanbulTurkmenbashi route will increase the number of tourists visiting the Avaza National Tourism Zone, and bring revenue to Turkmenbashi airport from the services provided to us.” This is a quotation from a letter from the head of the Turkish airline Pegasus, Güliz Öztürk, to the general director of Turkmenistan’s Transport and Communications Agency, Mammethan Chakyev.
Turkmen.news has in its possession a copy of the letter, dated October 24, 2023.In the letter the Pegasus CEO suggests introducing flights to Ashgabat and Mary, as well as to Turkmenbashi, and also to introduce charter flights from Turkmenbashi and Ashgabat to Antalya with a view to making them scheduled flights in future.
Ms Öztürk highlights the agreements between the presidents of the two countries on starting flights, and also refers to the “open doors” policy announced by Turkmenistan’s president.The letter to the senior Turkmen official is even written in Turkmen to make clear that Pegasus flights to Turkmenistan will bring only profit to the country, and cheap tickets and convenient connections to passengers.You would expect the official to grab the letter and run to the president with the good news: Turkey’s second biggest airline wants to fly to Turkmenistan!
But we don’t know if Chakyev passed on the request or tore it up in his office and threw it in the trash.There was no answer from him to the letter or to all the earlier ones either.Talks between Pegasus and Turkmenistan began around ten years ago.
In December 2015 the start of flights by Pegasus between Istanbul and Turkmenbashi was even officially announced but the plans fell through for reasons that were not clear at the time.
It’s clear why now: competition shuts off an illegal source of income from the air industry for corrupt Turkmen officials.Turkmen.news is reliably informed that at one time or another airlines such as Wizz Air (Hungary), Qatar Airways (Qatar), and Air Arabia (UAE), and freight carriers such as MGN Airlines (Turkey) and Geo Sky (Georgia) expressed an interest in flying to Turkmenistan, but were not given permission.
The only freight carrier authorized to fly to the country is Cargolux, which refuels in Turkmenistan and with a $45 discount!Yes, that’s right!Airlines are standing in line to fly to the country, but the Turkmen aviation authorities have chosen only one of them, and on top of that have given the chosen airline from Luxemburg, which isn’t exactly poor jet fuel at a discounted price.Astronomical airfares The arrival of new airlines means that airfares inevitably fall, the artificial deficit disappears, and corrupt Turkmen officials are deprived of their illegal income.
Of course, Mammethan Chakyev is not the only person obstructing the development of competition on the air passenger market.Key stakeholders and genuine parasites hold top positions at the Ashgabat airport complex.Chief among them is Dovran Saburov, the long-time head of the Türkmenhowaýollary Agency, who has been severely reprimanded by the president more than once.
The agency has been “shaken down” by the Supreme Board of Control, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the official deftly handled every inspection, generously dishing out bribes right and left.
It is Saburov and his sidekicks Ashyrmyrat Gylychlyev, head of the Passenger Service at Ashgabat International Airport, Bayram Baymuradov, general director of Turkmenistan Airlines, and Guvanch Abashov, deputy general director, that receive vast, illegal income from high airfares.
They all enjoy the protection of Chakyev who used to be Turkmenistan’s minister of internal affairs and has kept his contacts in the defense and security structures.Mammethan Chakyev even openly threatened the head of the transport police, Begli Annaniyazov, with repercussions if the latter tried to foist inspections on the aviation industry.When it resumed international flights after the pandemic, Turkmenistan Airlines sharply increased fares.
For example, in October 2019 a return ticket to Dubai could be bought for 1,522 manats ($82 at the exchange rate at the time), while in August 2024 just a single ticket already cost 3,935 manats ($200).
But fares to the most popular destinations for Turkmen citizens Istanbul and Moscow increased even more.In late 2019-early 2020 return tickets to these cities cost 3,116 manats ($168), but it now costs 7,500 manats ($385) to take a flight to Istanbul and 7,000 manats ($359) to the Russian capital.
And these are only single fares (we explain below why we don’t give current return fares.)Turkmenistan Airlines airfares in 2019 and in 2024 to the same destinationsFor comparison, a Turkish Airlines flight from Ashgabat to Istanbul costs $352, and it’s possible to find S7 flights for the end of December from Ashgabat to Moscow for 27,727 rubles ($286).
So, it’s cheaper to fly from Turkmenistan to Turkey or Russia with foreign airlines.In 2024, the minimum monthly wage in Turkmenistan was set at 1,280 manats ($66), while the average pension for women is 599 manats (less than $31).
So a female pensioner who worked all her life in a school would have to save her pension for a whole year, not spending a cent, if she wants to see the Blue Mosque in Istanbul or visit Red Square in Moscow, and 18 months to two years if she wants to come back.We should also note that all these prices are given at the market exchange rate.
According to the state exchange rate a ticket to Istanbul would cost $2,142 and to Moscow exactly $2,000.Because of the high airfares Turkmen citizens look for other routes to get to Russia, for example, via Uzbekistan.
Even from Urgench, the capital of Uzbekistan’s Khorezm region, four airlines fly to Moscow.Needless to say, the competition means airfares are not high.But Turkmenistan’s authorities have put up a barrier there too people are turned back at the Turkmen-Uzbek border if they’re found to be travelling to Russia.“Fly from Ashgabat!” they’re told.Collusion by the airlinesBut why does Turkmenistan’s state carrier have these fares?
The greatest cost for the majority of airlines is fuel.Perhaps jet fuel is unusually expensive in Turkmenistan?Quite the opposite, in fact.Turkmen.news has in its possession an instruction by Dovran Saburov, which shows the fuel prices for foreign and domestic aircraft.
In February 2024 foreign airlines paid $830 for a ton of jet fuel, and the Cargolux freight carrier $785 (that incomprehensible $45 discount) these prices are close to the world average.
Turkmenistan Airlines’ planes though have for many years received jet fuel almost for nothing under a presidential decree, paying a ridiculous 27.74 manats (less than $1.5) per ton!
Fuel prices for foreign carriersFuel prices for foreign carriersFuel price for Turkmenistan Airlines Moreover, the Turkmen national carrier pays its pilots and cabin crew considerably less than Turkish and even Russian companies.
And it doesn’t pay a single manat for navigation services in Turkmen air space, or for parking at Ashgabat airport or for ground handling services.Other airlines flying to Turkmenistan have to pay dearly for these services and in dollars too.The high fares to Istanbul and Dubai on Turkmenistan Airlines flights and Turkish Airlines and Fly Dubai flights too are the result of a cartel agreement between the head of Turkmenistan Airlines, Bayram Baymuradov, and the leadership of the foreign air carriers, according to a source.
Something along the lines of, if you don’t have cheap airfares, we won’t lower fares and won’t allow competitors in either.This can only be explained as collusion.
Judge for yourselves: Turkmenistan Airlines’ official agent in Istanbul, the company Hakim Turizm & Danışmanlık, offers passengers tickets from London to Beijing, Kuala Lumpur or Ho Chi Minh City with a stopover in Ashgabat for just $323!
That is, flying halfway round the world with a stopover in Ashgabat will be $62 cheaper than flying from Ashgabat to Istanbul (which costs $385, may we remind you).Ticket mafiaThe high fare isn’t the only problem buying tickets.
There are two ways of buying them: the old way, at the ticket office, or online via the Turkmenistan Airlines website, the airline’s mobile app or the ÇaparPay app.
If you book several months in advance, it’s possible to get your hands on a ticket for a popular route at the nominal price.In other cases you have to pay extra at the ticket office (or to intermediaries outside the ticket office).For example, a ticket to Moscow is 7,000 manats, with $200 or more on top.
Turkmen ticket office staff have been caught taking bribes many times, and shown on TV, but the situation improves for just a couple of weeks then carries on as before.But the ordinary ticket agents are just pawns in this business.
The ticket offices are allocated up to 40% of tickets, some of which are sold at normal prices.Another chunk of the tickets are taken by the “ticket mafia”, which doesn’t leave individual sales agents with much scope for dodgy dealings.
The same mafia receives the richest pickings, and they are online.It should be said that the country’s policy of moving to a digital economy applies to airlines too, so no fewer than 60% of tickets should officially be sold online.
There is no one to bribe here, but the system still shows that all the seats have already been sold for the desired date.But this is not the case: there are empty seats on all flights, both domestic and foreign.Digitization in Turkmenistan means that someone has oversight of the system, that someone still has to press the buttons.
The godfather of the ticket mafia is Guvanch Abashov, the deputy general director of Turkmenistan Airlines.He is the one who controls the tua.crane.aero booking system.
This is how the tickets are divided up.Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which make up the bulk of the Turkmenistan Airlines fleet, have just 160 passenger seats.Sixty of these go to the ticket offices, while Abashov “blocks” 100 through Dovran Gurbanov, head of the airline’s digital technologies department.
Abashov takes half of the 100 seats himself and divides the other 50 between Dovran Saburov (head of the Türkmenhowaýollary Agency) and Ashirmurat Gylychlyev (head of Ashgabat airport’s Passenger Service).
All these tickets are issued to fictitious individuals.Then the bosses sell for bribes the seats “apportioned” to them and reissue then to actual passengers.They don’t do this themselves of course, they have help.
Dovran Saburov’s assistant Parahat Berdymuradov is his intermediary, while Ashirmurat Gylychlyev’s is Mahri Annabaeva, who is both his deputy and his lover.Of course, these people don’t sell the tickets themselves either, lest they get caught, and resort to the help of friends and relatives.
So there are two levels of intermediary through whom citizens can acquire a coveted ticket.For example, a resident of Mary, Batyr Orazov, helps Gylychlyev distribute his “quota.” What’s known of Orazov is that he is in the pharmacy business and has no connection whatsoever to the aviation sector.
However, his telephone number +99365708817 is written in address books as “Batyr airport tickets,” “Batyr friend of AB [Ashirmurat Beglievich Gylychlyev],” “Batyr Ashir Gylychlyev,” and “Batyr airport deputy.” This Batyr can get hold of a ticket for any flight on any date as long as a “surcharge” is paid.
He is a kind of ticket fixer.By the way, in Turkmenistan cell phone numbers beginning with 70 after the 65 code are considered “elite” and usually owned by government officials or people close to them.
However, such a number can also be bought, but will cost several thousand dollars.So Batyr Orazov clearly has money.Phone number of Batyr Orazov and how other people saved it on their phonesThe same schemes apply to local flights too, although official prices for domestic flights in Turkmenistan are not high.
For example, it’s possible to fly from Ashgabat to Turkmenabat for 135 manats (less than $7), but you’re very lucky to get hold of a ticket at that price.
Intermediaries in Turkmenabat ask for 500 manats on top (around $25), and in the summer when the university admissions process starts, the surcharge can be as high as 2,000.
A seat in the first four rows on board the aircraft costs $50, but the ticket offices don’t sell the seats in these rows.There aren’t any.
You have to pay Ashirmurat Gylychlyev $50 at the registration desk at Ashgabat airport for the chance to sit in the front.Aviation officials try to sell “their” tickets first of all, but it can happen that more tickets are sold for a flight than seats on the aircraft.
This often happens with the Moscow flights.Then the Passenger Service head of shift Sahet Nuryev swings into action.At the check-in desk with an experienced eye he picks out the passengers who are less smartly dressed and look as though they are flying abroad for the first time.
He tells them regretfully that check-in has already finished and they are late for the flight.The passengers sigh and leave.Sometimes Ashirmurat Gylychlyev, Nuryev’s immediate boss, plays the sympathetic role himself.The mafia are everywhereTurkmen.news has written several times that the country is without doubt experiencing a personnel shortage.
People often hold positions without meeting the minimum requirement for them, such as specialized secondary education, for example.The aviation sector turns out to be no exception.According to job descriptions, which turkmen.news has in its possession, the head of the Passenger Service should have at least secondary professional education, but Ashirmurat Gylychlyev has only a school certificate.
Nevertheless, he wields vast influence over the aviation sector and its personnel issues.Around a year ago, the previous director of the airport, Shihdurdy Ataev, dismissed Gylychlyev for numerous instances of corruption and harassment of young female employees, but thanks to his connections and money Gylychlyev returned to his job just two months later, and then got Ataev dismissed.
Gylychlyev managed to promote Murat Suhanberdiev in his place, a capable and enthusiastic individual, but completely submissive to the all-powerful Gylychlyev.Suhanberdiyev has learnt the lesson of his predecessor very well and has resigned himself to not being the main man at the airport.
Turkmen aviation mafia schemeMahri Annabaeva is Ashirmurat Gylychlyev’s deputy and lover.Gylychlyev also found a job for her brother, Yusup Meredaliev, and not just any old job but head of the CIP lounge and at the same time deputy head of the VIP lounge at Ashgabat airport.
It’s a cushy number with a stable salary, plus under-the-table income from “elite” passengers.He made his former deputy Bezirgen director of the Lachin Hotel, which is part of the aviation industry structure.Ashirmurat Gylychlyev got an even more prestigious and lucrative job for his son Resul.
He sent him to work as Turkmenistan Airlines’ representative in Jeddah.Other corrupt officials put their people into good jobs too.For example, in April 2023 Dovran Saburov arranged for Mekan Soyunov, his wife’s nephew who at that time was 32 years old, to be the director of Turkmenabat airport no less.
Soyunov is a graduate of a branch of the Turkmen Agricultural University!Another of Saburov’s relatives, his wife’s younger brother Umid Sabirov, is an airplane captain at Turkmenistan Airlines and at the same time deputy head of the department for flight security and quality.
In summer 2024, he received a delegation from the University of the Turkish Aeronautical Association.Dovran Saburov’s son, Shamuhammet, a recent graduate of the Institute of Architecture and Construction, is also at the airport close to his dad, who got him the job of head of the International Postal Service.
They’re all our people in the system; no strangers here.Currency fraud?It’s not clear why, but Turkmen aviation officials have devised their own methods.In Turkmenistan it’s only possible to buy a single ticket to Moscow or Istanbul.
The return leg of the journey has to be bought in Russia or Turkey, and just one company in each country sells the tickets.The ITM Group is the monopoly agent in Russia, while in Turkey it’s Hakim Turizm & Danışmanlık.
We could not find any corrupt ties between these countries and the leadership of Turkmenistan’s aviation sector.But a turkmen.news source says that corrupt managers created this system in order to get even richer.The thing is that the Turkmen manat has two exchange rates: the artificial state rate (3.5 manats to the dollar) and the real market rate (around 20 manats to the dollar).
When buying tickets inside the country, citizens use manats but they have to use dollars to buy a ticket in Istanbul or Moscow.According to the source, bags full of these dollars are then brought to Ashgabat where the sticky-fingered aviation executives change them on the black market and put manats into the till.
They keep the difference, if there is one.But is there a difference?Those 7,000 manats to Moscow are $359 according to the market exchange rate, i.e.
approximately the same amount a passenger would spend in Moscow.So what is the problem selling a return ticket for manats in Turkmenistan, changing them at the market, and putting the dollars into the airline’s till?Another turkmen.news source said the need to buy a return ticket for dollars in Istanbul or Moscow is the result of the extreme backwardness of the country’s banking system.
When Turkmenistan Airlines needs to transfer hard currency abroad in order, for example, to pay for the servicing of their planes in foreign airports, every hard currency transfer requires multiple consents, right up to presidential approval.
Supposedly this is why Turkmenistan Airlines has to resort to various tricks and semi-legal schemes.“At present most of the dollars received from ticket sales in Turkey or Russia are spent there on passenger check-in services, baggage handling, ground handling, and other expenses,” that source says.But another turkmen.news source in the industry does not accept these arguments.
According to them, Turkmenistan has been transferring all the money for plane servicing abroad without any hold-ups after the lesson of 2016, when Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency suspended navigation services to the Turkmen carrier over a debt of $220,000.
This source points out that it’s only in Turkey and Russia that Turkmenistan has agents for the sale of return tickets, probably because that’s where they managed to reach agreement on the necessary schemes.
There are no agents in Italy, Thailand, Singapore, and China, where Turkmenistan Airlines also flies and has to pay for aircraft servicing in hard currency.Be that as it may, Turkmenistan is the only country to follow the practice of not selling a return ticket and requiring the ticket to be purchased in the country of departure.
You want to buy an Air Astana ticket from Almaty to London and back be my guest, buy it by card in Kazakhstan or Great Britain or Honduras.The same goes for Uzbekistan Airways and any other airline in countries that have a suitable banking system with a single currency exchange rate, a developed system of online ticket sales, and decent managers.The UntouchablesThe Turkmen aviation executives mired in corruption receive regular reprimands but remain basically untouchable.
It’s a long established practice in Turkmenistan that even the all-powerful Ministry of National Security carefully studies an asset before gobbling it up whole.What if someone is behind the asset?
What if that someone turns out to be so much stronger that they’ll crush you too?Some Ministry of National Security employees manage to extract benefit from these situations though.
Muhammet Saparov, former head of the Seventh Department of the Fourth Directorate of the Ministry of National Security, the handler for aviation, is one example.For a long time he turned a blind eye to the numerous infringements in the Türkmenhowaýollary Agency, Turkmenistan Airlines, and Ashgabat airport.
They literally gagged him with money so he would not report a single infringement in the sector to his minister and further up to the president.In 2023 Saparov was transferred and now heads the Ministry of National Security’s Directorate for Ashgabat, with its myriad opportunities to “terrorize” the capital’s businessmen and state officials.Someone by the name of Ashir became handler in his place.
He seemed to try to bring order, but was soon stopped by the minister of national security, Nazar Atagaraev.Then Ashir was transferred far away, to Ahal region.The sector’s handler is now Arslan Bayryev, who, unlike his predecessors doesn’t do anything without getting the nod from Atagaraev first.
The Security Ministry chief is as before in no hurry to shake down the aviation sector.And it’s not surprising, given that the talk among the special services is that behind Ashirmurat Gylychlyev, the head of the Passenger Service, stands presidential adviser Kakageldi Charyyardurdyev.
And behind the general director of Turkmenistan Airlines, Bayram Baymuradov, stands Dovlet Tashliev, chairman of the Supreme Board of Control of Turkmenistan.These fish are too big even for the sharks of the National Security Ministry.Despite the army of handlers in the National Security Ministry, Prosecutor General’s Office, and Ministry of Internal Affairs, and also the auditors in the Supreme Board of Control, no one from these departments seems to notice that the aviation sector in Turkmenistan has been taken over by corrupt organized gangs, who go as far as open sabotage for the sake of their own interests.But inspections do take place in the aviation sector.
They reveal serious infringements and even crimes, but the reaction of Mammethan Chakyev as head of the sector is simply comical.Turkmen.news has received a copy of a letter from Chakyev on the results of a spot check of the work of the Türkmenhowaýollary Agency, sent to its head Dovran Saburov.
The letter is dated July 12, 2023.This is what the inspection discovered: The lists of passengers purchasing tickets online do not match the lists of those boarding.
This means that someone is issuing online tickets to fictitious individuals, and then reissuing them to real passengers for a bribe.This is done in particular by Sahra Hojaeva, a “close acquaintance” [in the letter the words “ýakyn tansy” are given in quote marks] of the head of the digital technologies department, Dovran Gurbanov.
The letter stresses that Gurbanov is covering for his acquaintance.As a response Chakyev suggests checking the IP-addresses of the sales agents issuing the tickets online and the passengers who then return their tickets;During the day on June 27, 2023 there was a snap inspection of the work of the ticket agents at Ashgabat airport.
It found that they had not put into the till the money for last-minute additional tickets (the practice of reissuing seats that no one has checked in for just before a flight to new passengers ready to take that flight for example from the waiting list or with a ticket for a later flight turkmen.news).
The ticket agents explained that shift head Sahet Nuryev had given the order to issue tickets for the vacant seats and handed them his list of passengers.He took the money, including an “additional payment” [the words “goşmaça tölegi” are highlighted in italics and put inside quote marks in the letter], from them himself but did not put it into the till.
Later, Oraz Annageldyev, an agent of the Passenger Service, put the missing 650 manats into the till himself on Nuryev’s instructions.Nuryev himself explained that he took the money from the passengers and put it into the till later;According to the regulations, passengers with young children and those travelling for medical treatment have priority for last-minute boarding.
However, the inspection found that on the contrary a woman with two children and a sick man were not allowed to check in for one of the flights.Their tickets were torn up by employees of the Passenger Service!
The cost of the tickets was repaid to the passengers but with a fine deducted, although they had been forced to surrender their tickets.On the instructions of the Passenger Service head Ashirmurat Gylychlyev, other people boarded in their place;No one checks in for a flight if they are not on Ashirmurat Gylychlyev’s list.
Moreover, if the ticket agents don’t follow the instructions of employees of his service, his team ostentatiously try to prevent would-be passengers from buying tickets and do not check them in for the flight, even if they stand in line until takeoff when this happens the plane takes off with empty seats.These are just the most flagrant examples of what the spot check revealed.
But as a result of all the infringements Mammethan Chakyev just suggested reprimanding Ashirmurat Gylychlyev, Sahet Nuryev, and Oraz Annageldyev, and arranging the work so that money for the last-minute sale of vacant seats should only be paid into the till… And that’s all!Conclusions and recommendationsThe Turkmen aviation market is riddled with corrupt schemes and structural problems.
In the current situation neither the airlines, nor the airport will make a profit.Instead of making tickets cheaper for ordinary people, the jet fuel subsidies simply benefit a small circle of officials.
The same goes for not allowing competitors to enter the market: the general public lose out because of the monopoly, while the same corrupt officials are the winners.The situation can be changed though, and in a short time without great effort.
This requires only the political will of the head of state.The steps below will help reduce corruption, make tickets more affordable for ordinary people, attract more money from abroad into the country, and motivate the Turkmen aviation sector to make a profit on its own at last.This is what should be done right now:1.
Remove from their posts named managers and employees in the aviation sector, whom previous inspections have already found to have committed serious infringements.Give a legal assessment of their actions throughout their time managing the sector.
Check out the lifestyle of these people and whether it corresponds with their official income:At the Agency of Transport and Communications at the Cabinet of Ministers: Mammethan Chakyev, general director;At the Türkmenhowaýollary Agency: Dovran Saburov, head, and Parahat Berdymuradov, assistant to the head;At Turkmenistan Airlines: Bayram Baymuradov, general director; Guvanch Abashov, deputy general director; Dovran Gurbanov, head of the department of digital technologies;At Ashgabat airport Passenger Service: Ashirmurat Gylychlyev, head; Mahri Annabaeva, deputy head; Sahet Nuryev, head of shift.2.
Select personnel for the aviation sector on a competitive basis and allow them to work undisturbed, without keeping people at work 24/7.There are plenty of effective, proactive managers in the country, but these positions are out of reach for many of them.
This means that when hiring less attention should be paid to the family of a candidate, and instead conflicts of interest should be meticulously investigated: does the candidate have influential friends or relatives who might push them forward, or business people whom they might help?
But even vastly more effective managers won’t be able to get on with their jobs under micromanagement from above, when every minor issue is followed by inspections and punishments, when at any moment someone from the security agencies or the government can call and ask for a discreet favor, for example, finding someone a job.3.
Give people the opportunity to promptly report to the management of the airline and airports any instances of corruption or other infringements, for example via a hotline or online chat.
At present a Türkmenhowaýollary Agency working group receives members of the public just once a week.In order to make their complaints or requests, people start to gather at 2.00 or 3.00 in the middle of the night.
The hotline or chat must be secure with no possibility of persecution of the caller.The slogan “See it.Say it.Sorted.” is displayed on every corner in the underground, at railway stations, and in airports in Great Britain, encouraging the public to be vigilant in all senses of the word: if you see a problem, report it, and the problem will be solved.
Something similar can be devised in Turkmenistan, and not only in the aviation sector.4.Optimize key processes, for example, ticket sales and passenger check-in.Digitization will make purchases more accessible for people who cannot get to the ticket offices and reduce the opportunity for the clandestine resale of tickets.Review pricing for domestic flights.
You cannot get tickets at the official 135 manat price anyway.At the end of the day, a plane ticket cannot be two or three times cheaper than a taxi from Dashoguz to Ashgabat.
The price could be brought into line with the price plus “surcharge”, i.e.no less than 300 to 400 manats.Adjust prices upwards at times of peak demand such as during the summer holidays, student admissions campaign, New Year holidays, etc.
People are already paying this amount, but this way the money will go into the till and not the pockets of officials and their intermediaries;The practice of reissuing a ticket in someone else’s name does not exist anywhere else.
It’s possible to change the date of departure or return, but this is for a fee.As well as increasing prices in Turkmenistan, a fee should be charged for reissuing a ticket in someone else’s name, for example, 50% or more of the cost of the ticket, or stop the practice altogether.
This will make buying up tickets en masse unprofitable for the officials who have control of the booking system.You need a ticket in someone else’s name?
Buy a new one;Remove restrictions inside Turkmenistan on buying return tickets to Istanbul and Moscow.As a reminder, at present it’s possible to buy only single tickets inside the country to fly to those cities, and citizens have to buy the return leg for dollars from ticket agents in Istanbul or Moscow.
Ending this practice would restrict the opportunity for currency fraud and collusion between the heads of Turkmenistan Airlines and ticket agents.Moreover, if the state is concerned about the flow of citizens abroad, then it only makes sense to make it as easy and cheap as possible to return home, not to make it more difficult and expensive, as they do at present;Install self-check-in equipment in the airports, which would not only save money but also remove an opportunity to tamper with the boarding lists.5.
Turkmenistan Airlines tickets have recently been available on aggregator sites such as Skyscanner, Aviasales, and Kayak.And that’s great!Rather than keeping on monopolist ticket agents who take $25 as a minimum from every ticket sold and themselves decide at whim who will fly and who won’t, it’s better for the same percentages to entrust the sale of tickets to these systems.
But there are two important considerations:Tickets are sold on these platforms for foreign currency, and this means that residents of Turkmenistan will not be able to buy them with their local cards there are major restrictions on currency conversion and online shopping inside the country;Aviasales is the only aggregator site that sells tickets for domestic routes.
But the price of a return ticket from Turkmenabat to Ashgabat on Aviasales is 24,369 rubles (almost $250), though its official price in Turkmenistan is around $15.6.
Provide ticket agents with modern equipment and stop fining them for technical problems.The ticket offices often take bribes, but not always because of human greed.Every day the ticket offices of the Main Agency for Flights sell tickets for around one million manats in cash (to citizens of Turkmenistan) and 5,000 dollars (to foreigners).
The obsolete machines are not able to check the money properly.As a result, the banks’ cash offices find forgeries, torn banknotes, and shortages of 100 to 200 manats, which happen because of errors counting.
The ticket agents make this good from their own pockets.Modern machines would allow them to do their work properly, and not look for additional illegal income in order to cover fines.7.
Check the status of negotiations with all foreign carriers who have expressed an interest in flying to Turkmenistan, and allow as many as possible to enter the market.Turkmen.news knows that Pegasus, Wizz Air, Qatar Airways, and Air Arabia had specific plans to operate passenger flights, while some Russian airlines may have been considering it, and MGN Airlines and Geo Sky wanted to operate cargo flights.Ashgabat airport, worth $2.3 billion, is able to handle over 14 million passengers a year but handles fewer than two million at present.
It has fewer flights than our neighbors’ provincial cities.For example, four airlines fly to Moscow from Urgench, the capital of Khorezm region in Uzbekistan.It goes without saying that air fares are not high with that level of competition;Allowing foreign airlines into the market will make flights cheaper and more affordable for the public, including business people;This step will put pressure on the managers of Turkmenistan Airlines, forcing them not to get so involved in corrupt schemes and to work more transparently and effectively in order to withstand the competition;New flights by foreign carriers will create new jobs in the country, underwritten by foreign capital.
There are international airports with all the necessary infrastructure in every region of Turkmenistan.8.Expand the range of flights by the national air carrier.The inspection in Ashgabat airport that we mentioned above revealed something else interesting.
Their demands are a ready prescription for helping the Turkmen aviation sector right now:There’s an acute shortage of flights to Istanbul, Moscow, and Kazan (flights to Kazan have been suspended since June 2, 2024 turkmen.news).
This especially affects those who want to travel abroad to study or for medical treatment.In summer there are not enough flights between Ashgabat and Turkmenbashi;Residents of Dashoguz region and everyone else who has close family or business ties with Uzbekistan are waiting impatiently for flights to start on the Dashoguz Tashkent or Dashoguz Bukhara route;Turkmen business people are asking for a flight to the Chinese cities of Yiwu (a major center for foreign trade known as the “world’s supermarket”) or Shanghai instead of Beijing.These are just some of the recommendations to solve the most obvious problems.
Specially hired foreign specialists could give a more in-depth assessment of the current state of affairs in the Turkmen aviation sector and also make recommendations for its reform.
There are such specialist consultancies on the market.They are not cheap, but if their recommendations are followed properly they could pay for themselves in a short period of time, and Turkmenistan Airlines would finally begin to make a profit.
In early November President Serdar Berdimuhamedov gave instructions on drawing up a new five-year program to combat corruption.None of the details are known yet, but many of the points listed in this article could already be applied in the aviation sector.