Iradiya

Iradiya (legally Irad Air Services; Iradi: Iradiya aba joldoru) is a charter and air-cargo airline based in Talas. It was founded in 1997, during the US territorial administration, and operates from civil hangars beside Talas Air Base, Irad's main airfield. It flies passenger charters to neighboring countries and the Middle East, a subsidized domestic service between Talas and Tash-Kömür, cargo flights, and government, medical and contract flights. ISEZ officials and state media sometimes call it the national airline. It has no scheduled international routes, however, and Irad, whose sovereignty is unresolved, has no designated flag carrier.^[1][2]

History

Founding and the territorial period

The company was founded in 1997 by a group of Talas investors and former Aeroflot pilots and engineers of the Soviet-era Iradi civil aviation directorate, with an American aviation services firm as a minority partner. Its first aircraft were two Antonov An-26 freighters and a Let L-410 commuter aircraft, used to carry contractors, spare parts and mail between Talas and Almaty. Talas Air Base had been enlarged by US military engineers between 1993 and 1998, and the territorial government leased civil aprons and a hangar on its southern side to the new company.^[2]

As a carrier based in a US territory, Iradiya operated under the oversight of the US Federal Aviation Administration. Business grew after 2001, when the 2001 Basing Rights Agreement made Talas a staging area for Operation Enduring Freedom. Iradiya flew passengers and cargo for civilian contractors working at the base, and in 2003 it leased its first Western turboprops.^[2]

Since 2006

The end of the territorial administration in December 2006 also ended the company's US certification. In the spring of 2007, during the Second Iradi Civil War, Iradiya flew foreign workers and their families out of Talas to Almaty while the Popular Front of Irad besieged the city. After the war it was certified by the newly formed ISEZ Civil Aviation Directorate.^[3]

From 2009 the company replaced its Soviet-built passenger aircraft with leased ATR 72 turboprops. That year it began a government-subsidized service to Tash-Kömür, the only alternative to the Fergana Mountain Transit Highway when winter storms close the road. It added an Embraer E190 regional jet in 2014 for longer charters. Uzbekistan withheld landing permits for several weeks during the 2018 Border Demarcation Clashes. Demand fell again in 2020, when charter flights were suspended for several months during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1]

Operations

Passenger charters

Iradiya flies charters to Almaty, Tashkent, Dubai and Istanbul, and seasonal holiday flights to resorts in Turkey. Each flight requires landing and overflight permits from the countries concerned. None of the neighboring states recognizes the ISEZ, so permits are issued case by case, and the airline cannot sell scheduled services on international routes.^[3] Most of its regional passengers are business travelers, oil and mining engineers, aid workers and families visiting relatives abroad.

Domestic service

The Talas–Tash-Kömür route, flown three times a week with ATR 72s and up to daily in winter, is subsidized by the ISEZ government. Tash-Kömür has a Soviet-era airstrip lengthened to about 1,900 meters in 2009. There is no scheduled service to Nurzhan, which has no passenger airport and lies within a few hours' drive of Talas.^[1]

Cargo

Cargo flights carry spare parts for the oil and mining industries, medicines, veterinary vaccines and express freight, much of it handled through the bonded terminal of the Talas Airport Logistics Hub. The airline also carries regional horse consignments for the Akyel Equine Logistics & Breeding Syndicate; long-haul horse shipments use chartered foreign freighters.^[4]

Government and contract flights

The ISEZ government charters the company's business jet for official travel and for foreign delegations. Iradiya holds a contract with the United Nations Mission in Irad for observer rotations between Talas and the mission's sector headquarters at Tash-Kömür. Its Twin Otters fly medical evacuations and deliveries to short mountain airstrips, including some on the tribal side of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, where flights require the consent of clan councils and are coordinated through UNMI.^[3] The strips it uses include the Soviet-built Kerben and Kazarman strips on the tribal side, the Toktogul Airstrip in the ISEZ and the Boz-Korgon Airstrip, which serves the government compound.

Fleet

According to the company, its fleet in 2024 consisted of eight aircraft:

• two ATR 72-500 turboprops in passenger configuration;
• one ATR 72-500 converted to a freighter;
• one Embraer E190 regional jet;
• one Antonov An-26 freighter;
• two de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, used on short and unpaved strips;
• one Bombardier Challenger 605 business jet.^[1]

Irad is not a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization and has no aircraft nationality mark of its own. During the territorial period Iradiya's aircraft were on the US civil register. Since 2007 its leased aircraft have been registered in Bermuda by their owners.^[3]

Corporate affairs

Irad Air Services is a closed joint-stock company, and its shareholders are not published. Its general director is Daniyar Usenov. The company employed about 420 people in 2023.^[4] Line maintenance is done in its hangars at Talas, and heavy maintenance and engine overhauls are contracted to facilities in Almaty. Jet fuel comes from the refinery of NurGaz by the pipeline that supplies the air base.

Incidents

In January 2012 an Iradiya An-26 freighter overran the runway at Tash-Kömür while landing in snow. The crew was unhurt, and the aircraft was repaired. The ISEZ Civil Aviation Directorate states that the airline has had no fatal accidents.^[3]

References

1. ^ Irad Air Services (2024). Company Profile and Fleet List. Talas.
2. ^ State Archives of Irad (Talas). Territorial Department of Transportation: Civil Aviation Charters and Airport Concessions (1997–2006).
3. ^ Central Asian Geopolitical Review (2021). 'Flying Without a Flag: Civil Aviation in an Unrecognized Territory.' Vol. 27, pp. 133–152.
4. ^ Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Irad (2023). Commercial Directory of Transport and Logistics Companies. Talas.