Humo Air airline will be returned to the state and put up for privatization again

Humo Air airline returned to state ownership and will be put up for privatization again

In Uzbekistan, the sale of a 100% state share in Humo Air airline is planned. The airline was included in the list of state assets to be put up for public sales, approved by the president's decree on August 28.

Notably, Humo Air was already privatized at the end of 2022. At that time, the 100% share of the company was purchased by the Swiss investment company ValleyRoad Capital S.A. for 27.2 billion soums ($2.4 million). Subsequently, the airline began operating based on a low-cost carrier model.

The new document notes that currently, a 100% share of Humo Air belongs to the state again, and this full share is to be sold through public sales in 2026–2027. At the same time, the decree does not clarify when and on what basis the airline returned to state ownership.

In addition, open data from the Single State Registry of Enterprises and Organizations (SSREO) as of September 8 shows a different ownership structure of Humo Air. According to the registry, a 51% share of the company still belongs to ValleyRoad Capital, while the remaining 49% share belongs to the State Assets Management Agency (SAMA).

The State Assets Management Agency informed Gazeta that the agreement with the investor was terminated and the 100% share of Humo Air is being returned to the state.

Humo Air was established in January 2020 on the basis of the state-owned "Special Aviation Works Airline". The carrier was given 43 An-2 aircraft to operate short domestic flights as a cheaper alternative to Uzbekistan Airways.

In December 2021, the airline launched flights on the Fergana – Sokh – Fergana route, operated twice a week.

At the end of 2022, the state share in Humo Air was sold to the Swiss company ValleyRoad Capital S.A. The investor agreed to undertake a number of obligations. In particular, by 2026, the investor was supposed to purchase 18 aircraft, including three aircraft by the end of the second quarter of 2023.

Initially, the new owner was expected to receive the first three aircraft and start regular low-cost flights by the end of June 2023. However, due to the delayed arrival of the aircraft, passenger operations began only in December.

At the initial stage, Humo Air started operating flights from Tashkent to the cities of Nukus, Samarkand, Urgench, and Karshi. In January 2024, the route network expanded, and flights were launched between Samarkand and Urgench, as well as from Tashkent to Fergana.

At that time, the airline's fleet consisted of two Airbus A320-200 aircraft leased from the Bulgarian company Fly2Sky.

At the end of February 2024, Humo Air announced that it would temporarily suspend all flights starting from March 10 to prepare for the launch of international routes and upgrade the system.

In early March, the airline reached an agreement with Fly2Sky to return both Airbus A320 aircraft. Humo Air explained this decision by stating that the terms of the current lease agreement did not allow development based on the established business plan.

One aircraft was returned to the lessor on March 2, and the second was scheduled to complete flights by March 10. At that time, the airline stated that it hoped to receive aircraft from a new lessor as early as April and resume regular flights thereafter.

Humo Air planned to focus on international transportation while maintaining domestic routes. Almaty, Istanbul, and Dubai were mentioned among the planned foreign destinations.

In addition, the carrier expressed its intention to operate 1,000 flights and transport more than 200,000 passengers in the near future.

Now, a few years after the first privatization, Humo Air has again been included in the state program for the sale of assets.