DUSHANBE, May 14, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Tajik air company, Somon Air, has launched an additional flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the company press center, it will be a twice-weekly service – on Mondays and Thursdays.  The first flight will be operated on June 2.  Economy class fare will cost 284 euros and the business class fare will cost 609 euros, the source said.

In April, Somon Air reportedly carried 22,600 passengers, which 5,000 passengers, or 28.4 percent, more than in April 2010.  

Somon Air is an airline based in Dushanbe.  It is Tajikistan''s first private airline.  Somon Air is also the first airline in Tajikistan to launch an online booking system. The airline uses the Boeing 737 in its fleet.

Somon Air now operates to the following destinations: China (Urumqi); Germany (Frankfurt am Main); Kazakhstan (Almaty); Russia (Khanty-Mansisysk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Orenburg, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg); Saudi Arabia (Jeddah); Tajikistan (Khujand); Turkey (Istanbul); Ukraine (Simferopol); and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai).