The key facts

  • Network planning director Patrick Quayle visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2026 to study the market
  • Kirby: flights are currently impossible because the company cannot fly over Russia
  • No official decision on launching flights has been made — the outlet assesses the report as an exploration of possibilities, not an announcement

What the head of United Airlines said

The American airline United Airlines is exploring the prospect of adding Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to its future international route network. This became known from remarks by the carrier's CEO Scott Kirby on the Cheeky Pint podcast, as cited by Live and Let's Fly; Spot.uz reports on this. According to Kirby, the company's network planning director Patrick Quayle visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2026 to study the local aviation market and opportunities for new flights.

Why flights have not been launched yet

Kirby explained that at present the company cannot operate flights to Central Asia because it is unable to fly through Russian airspace. 'Right now we can't fly there because we can't fly over Russia. But in the future [the new route] could start operating,' he said. He also emphasized that when choosing new destinations, United Airlines does not rely solely on passenger traffic and statistics: the company has a special team that looks for opportunities in markets not served by other carriers or insufficiently studied.

This is not a route announcement

The company has not yet made an official decision to launch flights to Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan. Live and Let's Fly itself assesses the report not as an announcement of a new destination but as 'a look at the way of thinking' of the carrier. Thus, at this point the matter concerns only the study of the region: the confirmed facts remain Quayle's visit and the company's public acknowledgment of interest, against the backdrop of the continuing restriction related to routes through Russian airspace.