Tashkent airport: reports and Q&A

[steven]

Please read and share your experience and questions about Tashkent airport below.

We summarize all useful info at our Tashkent airport page.

Thanks!

[bigbeka]

It is not as bad as they say (Depends).
1. Might depend on how busy the airport is, usually 2,3 big international flights slows things down as the airport is small.
2. If you are foreigner it might take longer, simply just because you are foreigner !

I usually come 2 hours in advance, take my time to go through the different (ridiculous) stages of checks and controls. And end up waiting at the gate too.
But to be on the safe side, be there 2 hours earlier.

[salrich]

Hi folks,

We are a Brit and an Aussie flying into Tashkent next week from Kuala Lumpur. Just wondering what people's experiences are with immigration officials there. Has anyone been asked for an onward flight from Uzbekistan (we don't have one, as we'll be travelling overland into Kazakhstan)??

Thanks!

[steven]

No, that's not necessary. Your impressions of the airport are welcome!

[Mandalay]

Hi

I have to spend the night at Tashkent Airport between my Arrival flight from Bishkek and the continuing flight to Konye Urgench. I won't have enough time to stay at a Hotel near the Airport. Has anyone got recent updates about the Tashkent Airport, are there places to sleep, Coffee Shops, Restaurants, Exchange Offices?

Thank you very much for your help.

All the best
Lisa

[Wahlsted]

I departed on the evening flight from Tashkent to Moscow (last flight of the day at 19.00) a week ago, and here are my impressions of the international terminal:

Chaotic drop-of since the originally designed/built one is fenced off, and the pick-up area is small to handle both arrivals and departures.

First a brief security check to get close to the building and then another more detailed one with x-ray of luggage to get in to the terminal building. Fairly quick for us, less than 10 minutes from drop of to check in hall.

Not too long queues, but slow check in. Was put aside since my Russian visa expired the day after (had a 22h transfer in Moscow), and needed to show my ticket out of Russia (with another airline) to be checked in.

Then fill in a customs form (English ones available), and pas through Customs. Friendly and relatively fast.

After that immigration and stamping-out of Uzbekistan, Slow. Registration slips not checked/asked for. Directly after another check of the stamp just achieved...

Then normal security check. Nether fast or slow.

The process after check-in took perhaps 20 minutes, and in total around 45 minutes from taxi drop-off to “inside” including some waiting put aside at the check-in counter. Passport checked at every step and ticket at most after check-in.

At “the inside” Uzbek Som was not accepted, only EUR or USD. I still have a stack of useless bills…

[bigbeka]

Hi there,

On the visa question:
I'm an Uzbekistan passport holder, so never have been a transit passenger in Uzbekistan. Based on a quick (5min) search on the internet for your case, it say you need visa to transit in Uzbekistan. This might be inaccurate as transit visa means entering from a border and exiting from another (Even to another country then the one you came from).

On the layover within the airpot:
I would say the scene I usually see when I arrive to Tashkent International Airport (Old name: "Tashkent 2"; New name: "Islam Karimov"), does not show any signs of lounges and what so ever. The logistics of arriving is as follows: Airport parks, passengers get our of the plane by stairs and get into designated buses (VIP/CIP/or regular) and the bus takes the passengers to the building. The whole herd of people (Economy class) from the plane rush from the bus into a small door and start pushing towards the 2 (if you are lucky 3 or 4) windows of border checkpoint. After which comes the longest wait for the luggage. In most cases its around 1.5-2 hours wait. But in less busy days, you can get 30mis to 1 hour. Once you receive the luggage, clearing the customs should be straight forward (Given no "funny" items in the luggage, or depending on the mood of the customs). And the long waited city doors with lots of taxi drivers screaming "TAXI SIR" will be in front of you.

It might be changed/improved, as my last experience with economy class exit was a year or two ago.
And it might be different for you if you won't be able to clear the border checkpoint, and they might take you from exiting the bus to no-man's land.

Please share whatever experience you have once you go though it. Its interesting to know, never came across anyone with such an experience.

Enjoy the transit/layover,
Beck

[Uncle_Iroh]

Hello,

I was in Tashkent airport on October 9th. It is around 20-30 minutes from the city (at least from my hotel). It's small and there were not too many seats for people waiting to enter the departure area. I thought of using the business lounge but it was for 125 USD. No freaking way! So I stayed in the public area, it wasn't so bad; I even got to charge my phone.

The first security check was mainly for the customs people to check how much foreign currency you will be bringing outside of the country and luggage check. Then passport check by immigration. Afterwards, another luggage security check this time by immigration, before being finally let into the departure area. I suspect there was a turfing war between the two agencies, as usually happens in government. Everything, including check in, took a little more than an hour because of the long lines and tour groups.

Supposedly, you can change your leftover som to USD at the kiosk near the VIP lounge but when I presented my local currency, the lady said that they cannot change my money due to the serial numbers not included in the allowable threshold or something. I can no longer remember the exact reason she gave me, sorry.

[steven]

Latest report I got today via e-mail.

My last experience from ****** was VERY good. But we should have in mind that our flight was the only one that time.
They finally arranged a queue for passport control, then luggage arrived very quickly and customs was super quick. This is all because of criticism from president. BUT if there are many flights, no guarantees for civilized arrival. Let's see when I arrive from *******, night time with many flights.

[Valikhanov]

Extremely smooth process on march 16th late night arrival.
In fact I have never entered any central-asian (or post-soviet) country so fast. Customs took less than 3 minutes because they had so much staff that there were no queues. Bagagge took another five.
After that you can just walk out via the green corridor. I would guess, that from landing to taxi it took maybe twenty minutes.