Airfields

The main air bases are located in the neighbourhood of the towns of Chirchik, Tashkent, Nukus, Karshi, Jizzakh to Navoi, Termez, Kagan. In 1993 Uzbekistan had nine civilian airports, of which four were large enough to land international passenger jets. Tashkent's Yuzhnyy Airport, the largest in the country, now serves as a major air link for the other former republics of the Soviet Union with South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as a major hub linking Central Asia with Western Europe and the United States. The addition of Tashkent to the flight routes of Germany's national airline, Lufthansa, greatly increased this role, and Uzbekistan's own airline, Uzbekistan Airways, flies from Tashkent and Samarqand to major cities in Western Europe and the Middle East. In 1994 its fleet included about 400 former Soviet aircraft, including the Yakovlev 40, Antonov 24, Tupolev 154, Ilyushin 62, 76, and 86, and two French Airbus A310-200s.

The New Navoi International Airport, a former Soviet bomber base, is one of President Karimov's personal pet projects to attract international businesses and cargo carriers to use Uzbekistan as an East Asia - Middle East - Southeast Asia - Europe air hub. In 2008 the government tendered the operating contract to Korean Air's (KAL's) cargo operation. The government wanted to get this operation moving and attract other private companies to use Navoi (UPS, DHL, etc.). The airfield itself is AN-124 and C-5 capable.

On 29 January 2008, the Government of Uzbekistan approved the use of the Uzbekistani-German Termez Airbase as a transit point into Afghanistan for U.S. personnel assigned to NATO and/or International Security Assistance Force missions. The German-Uzbek Airbase was at Termez Airport, a civilian airport. With their shift to Mazar-e-Sharif, by late 2008 the German operation was just a skeleton crew of 100 airmen and an occasional Airbus and/or C-160. The Germans maintained their smaller operation at Termez, but the bulk of their air transport efforts were moved into Afghanistan. While Termez Airport had obvious geographic advantages, there were runway issues. Although, in theory, the airfield was AN-124 and C-5 capable, the German Luftwaffe Command stopped clearing AN-124 landings due to deterioration of the main runway and uneven weight-bearing conditions on the tarmac. A key question at Termez was the safe use of IL-76s with regard to runway and tarmac conditions.