On August 9, an Etihad Airways Airbus A320 lifted out of Abu Dhabi bound for Tashkent, reopening a link to the old Silk Road — and, with it, an entire country’s worth of onward connections.

The new daily nonstop is only half the story. Paired with a codeshare with Uzbekistan Airways, it lets travellers book a single ticket from Abu Dhabi to eight cities across Uzbekistan, including the fabled Silk Road capitals of Samarkand and Bukhara.

A daily hop with a long reach

Flight EY 830 leaves Abu Dhabi at 21:10 and touches down in Tashkent at 01:35 the next morning; EY 831 turns straight back at 03:50, landing in Abu Dhabi at 06:35. The overnight timing is deliberate, feeding Etihad’s Abu Dhabi hub and its 70-plus destinations so a traveller from Tashkent can connect onward across Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Eight cities on one ticket

The direct flight is amplified by a codeshare with Uzbekistan Airways that opens single-ticket connections from Tashkent to Samarkand, Bukhara, Urgench, Nukus, Termez, Fergana, Namangan and Andizhan. The two carriers are also building a frequent-flyer tie-up between Etihad Guest and UzAirPlus.

Why Uzbekistan, and why now

Central Asia has become one of aviation’s fastest-rising markets, and Uzbekistan — with its UNESCO-listed Silk Road cities and a recent opening to tourism — sits right at the centre of it. Gulf carriers are racing to plug the region into their hubs, and Etihad’s daily Tashkent service turns Abu Dhabi into a convenient one-stop gateway for GCC leisure travellers and connecting global traffic alike.

The Silk Road once carried caravans between the Gulf and the markets of Samarkand. Now it is an overnight A320 and a single boarding pass.

Sources: Etihad Airways; Uzbekistan Airways; Business Traveller; Travel And Tour World.