The key facts

  • United Airlines is considering Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as potential new destinations
  • In 2026, Patrick Quayle visited both countries to assess the markets
  • The obstacle is the inability to fly through Russian airspace

The airline is exploring the Central Asian market

The American airline United Airlines is considering Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as promising destinations as part of expanding its international route network. This was announced by the company's CEO Scott Kirby on the Cheeky Pint podcast, as reported by Kun.uz.

How new routes are chosen and what is holding up the launch

According to Kirby, a special team led by Patrick Quayle is responsible for selecting new destinations: it studies unconventional routes and looks for promising markets that cannot always be identified through statistics. This year, Quayle has already visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to assess the potential of these markets. However, launching flights is not yet possible: “Right now we can't fly there because we don't have access to Russian airspace,” the publication quotes Kirby as saying. The article does not report any timeline for a possible launch of flights.

The scale of the carrier

United Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the United States and the world, part of the “big three” American carriers alongside Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. Its fleet numbers more than a thousand aircraft, it operates about 4,500 flights daily, and its route network covers more than 350 destinations in roughly 75 countries across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. For Uzbekistan, the arrival of such a carrier would mean direct service with the United States — at present, according to Kirby, the company cannot fly there, and the market study remains a preparatory stage with no decisions made.