, May 24, Asia-Plus - Tajik State Air Company “Tojikiston” will dispute its position on air fares.  Representatives from the air carrier believe that they will be able to win this case.         

Nazira Davlatova, a spokeswoman for the airline “Tojikiston”, says the company’s administration does not agree with the antimonopoly commission’s opinion that it is more profitable to convey more passengers at lower air fares then to convey fewer passengers but at higher air fares.  “We have discussed the Antimonopoly Agency’s proposals to lower individual air fares and we consider that they do not meet requirements and realities of market economic relations and they are destructive for Tajik aviation,” she said, adding that with rates set by the antimonopoly commission the air carrier will incur losses at the rate of US$11,519 from each flight Dushanbe-Moscow.  “With such rates Tajikistan will never buy new planes,” Ms. Davlatova said.       

            In the meantime, the Antimonopoly Agency deputy head Amonullo Ashurov has told Asia-Plus that today the Antimonopoly Commission is opening a case against the air carrier for excessively high prices.  The agency is taking this step after the airline “Tojikiston” ignored its ruling to lower individual air fares.  The antimonopoly commission intends to fine the air carrier for violation of the country’s antimonopoly legislation.  “The amount of fine will be determined during the case consideration,” said Ashurov, “But the amount of fine will not be higher than 20,000 minimal wages.”        

            As it had been reported earlier, the airline “Tojikiston” raised prices of air tickets on the flight Dushanbe–Moscow by 68 percent in mid-April, from US$209 to US$345. 

According to information from the national airline, damage caused to the company by the flight Dushanbe-Moscow-Dushanbe has amounted to US$600,000 since the beginning of the year.    

The antimonopoly commission considers that price of ticket on the flight Dushanbe-Moscow should be US$250-US$270 and the price on of the ticket on the flight Moscow-Dushanbe should be US$200.  While the air carrier considers that the basic tariff for the flights from Dushanbe to Moscow and back should be note less than US$600.