Could Tashkent or Almaty join the list of cities served nonstop from the United States? United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby thinks it's worth exploring. Speaking on the Cheeky Pint podcast with John Collison and Ben Thompson, Kirby revealed that Patrick Quayle, the airline's head of network planning, travelled to both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan this year to size up the potential.
The catch is geography. The shortest routing from the US to Central Asia crosses Russia, and US carriers have been banned from Russian airspace since the invasion of Ukraine. As Kirby put it, United cannot fly there today — though he suggested it "could work down the road." No city pairs, aircraft, gateway or launch date were mentioned, so this is a scouting mission rather than a route announcement.
Central Asia isn't unreachable, though. Uzbekistan Airways already flies nonstop between Tashkent and New York JFK — a route the flag carrier can operate profitably-agnostic and without Russian overfly problems. For United, any new service would likely launch from Newark, its long-haul stronghold, and would need to win passengers on connection convenience through its own hub network rather than raw local demand.
The economics are the real question mark. Tourism alone rarely sustains an ultra-long-haul route, especially where demand swings heavily by season — a issue United ran into with its Amman service before regional instability compounded things. And history shows that a network chief's field trip sits several steps short of a bookable flight. Still, the信号 is hard to dismiss: United appears to be positioning for the moment Russian airspace reopens, which would transform the viability of routes across Central and South Asia. India gets most of the attention in that scenario, but Central Asia could be part of the same post-war opening.
Why should travellers care? Because nonstop US service would be a genuine unlock for two of the world's most under-visited and rewarding destinations. Uzbekistan packs Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva — some of the finest Silk Road architecture anywhere — into an affordable, easy-going trip. Kazakhstan offers the contrast of futuristic Almaty and vast steppe country. Today both typically require connections through Istanbul, Dubai, Seoul or the flag carrier's New York flight; a US major entering the market would push down fares and raise awareness. For now, file it under "watch this space" — and hope diplomacy delivers the airspace.
