Kyrgyzstan lifts ban on registering new airlines

Photo: Airports of Kyrgyzstan

President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov has lifted the ban on registering new airlines in the country. The restriction was enacted by presidential decree in November 2024 as part of a broader effort to tighten oversight of the local air transport sector and secure Kyrgyzstan’s removal from the European Union air safety blacklist—a milestone achieved in June 2026.

In addition to halting the issuance of new Air Operator Certificates (AOCs), the 2024 decree mandated comprehensive audits of local airlines operating exclusively outside Kyrgyzstan, as well as those basing aircraft abroad for more than one month.

At the time the ban was implemented, Kyrgyzstan had 17 certified carriers: five passenger and 12 cargo airlines. According to current data from the State Civil Aviation Agency of Kyrgyzstan, only four passenger carriers now hold active AOCs—Avia Traffic, Aero Nomad, Asman Airlines, and Sky FRU—alongside a single cargo operator, Aerostan.

The most recent carrier to lose its AOC was passenger airline TezJet. The revocation followed a serious aviation incident involving one of its aircraft on July 7 at Bishkek’s Manas International Airport.