Review of Tajik Air flight from Khorog to Dushanbe in Economy

I went on a part holiday, part work trip to Central Asia in August 2025. I've already been to all five Central Asian countries but this time I wanted to go to some places I hadn't been before: Dushanbe amd Khorog in Tajikistan, Astana in Kazakhstan and Khiva in Uzbekistan. The obvious choice to fly from Europe to Central Asia is Turkish Airlines. I live in Iceland but Turkish does not fly there. The cheapest business class from Europe to Dushanbe was from Budapest, so I first booked a Wizz flight from Iceland to Budapest.

Here's my full itinerary:
Keflavík to Budapest, Wizz, economy - no flight report
Budapest to Istanbul, Turkish Airlines, business
Istanbul to Dushanbe, Turkish Airlines, business 
Khorog to Dushanbe, Tajik Air, economy – you’re here
Dushanbe to Astana, Somon Air, economy
Astana to Tashkent, Uzbekistan Airways, business
Tashkent to Khiva, Uzbekistan Airways, economy
Khiva to Tashkent, Uzbekistan Airways, economy
Tashkent to Istanbul, Turkish Airlines, business
Istanbul to Warsaw, Turkish Airlines, business
Warsaw to Keflavík, Wizz, economy

Khorog, population 30,000, is the main town of Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. Badakhstan makes up around 45% of the country's land area but has only two percent of its population. Khorog is 2100 meters above sea level in the Pamir Mountains, but the mountains around it reach nearly 5000 meters. Driving time between Dushanbe and Khorog is currently around 13 hours by a good 4x4 vehicle on the Pamir Highway, parts of which is tarnac but some other parts are just dirt road. The asphalt is expected to be completed in a few years and then travel time will be reduced to about 9 hours.

There are few flights in the world of which such little information is available as the Tajik Air flight between Khorog and Dushanbe. Khorog Airport doesn't even have a three-letter IATA code, only a four-letter ICAO code. The flights are not shown on Flightradar, Google Flights or any similar websites. Most travel websites assume that there are currently no regular flights to Khorog. There are actually flights but they cannot be booked online, only in person in Tajikistan, a few days before departure, and you often need connections to get a reservation. Locals told me several times about how difficult it was to book: the plane has only 17 seats, but demand might be up to ten times higher. Actual tickets are not issued, but you'll be on the passenger list. Flights are VFR (visual flight rules), and flights are said to be often cancelled on the sight of the smallest cloud. Flights cost about $95 each way if you manage to book, and no return flight can be booked.

Tajik Air flies an AN-28 on this route. While a total of 191 AN-28s were built, only about 10 of them fly regularly in the entire world for civilian operators. Tajik Air has two such aircrafts, and they actually make their entire fixed-wing fleet. Despite Tajik Air being the national airline of Tajikistan, international flights are run by Somon Air.

The first AN-28 was built in 1969. It has a crew of two pilots, a capacity of 17 passengers, a cruise speed of 208 mph (335 km/h) and a range of 1,365 km.

I managed to secure a reservation two days before departure, although I didn't have an actual (paper or electronic) ticket - I was told I would be on the passenger list. "And what is departure time?"- I asked. "I don't know" was the answer. "Just go to the airport at 8 in the morning.".

I went there. There's no sign but this is the airport building.

The interior of the terminal is small but nice.

Here's the runway with the mountains not far from it.

There was a man there with the Tajik Air t-shirt, but otherwise the airport was empty. I was told that the flight would be late. But there was otherwise zero information, no signs - but no worries, something is going to happen anyway. Airport employees appeared at 09.20. I was the first to check in, and I was still the only passenger at the airport. I didn't get a boarding pass but the actual ticket, the old IATA paper ticket with handwritten information. 

Most other passengers arrived around 09.55.

The inbound plane landed at exactly 10.00.

The plane on the tarnac. The mountain behind is over 4000 m high.

Airport rules seemed to be very relaxed. A very young child, maybe 5 years old, probably the son of somebody working there, could just go alone to the plane.

Boarding started at 10.40 - we just walked to plane. 

The plane on today's flight was an Antonov AN-28, registration mumber EY-28736, built in 1990.  

We climbed a ladder on the back of the plane to get in. There was free seating. The first row has 1+1 seats; the five other rows have one seat on the left side and a bench for two on the right side. The plane was of course full. A Tajik Air engineer was standing (later sitting) in the cockpit door.

I was sitting on the right side of the last row, next to the emergency exit.

The emergency exit row has regular legroom. 

There was no safety demonstration or safety information sheet in the seat pockets. There were seat belts but their use seemed to be optional. The pilots started the engins, and the cabin immediately filled with a light smell of oil. We started to taxi at 10.49 and we took off at 10.51.

The view after take-off.

We flew over the Panj river and the Pamir Highway. The mountains were a few hundred meters on our right and the Afghan border on our left.

Passengers looking out on the windows to see the mountains on the Afghan side of the border.

Shortly after we flew not above the Pamir Mountains but through them. Out cruising altitude was FL140, so about 4,267 meters. The mountains in this area are around 4400 meters high.

We flew many times literally a few hundred meters from the mountains both horizontally and vertically. 

The cabin was unpressurized, and I could feel it was more difficult to breath at this altitude.

We flew over the part of the Pamir Highway that is mostly closed for works, open only twice a day to let traffic through.

We flew a few kilometers inside Afghanistan's airspace. The Panj river that you can see the photo is the border for hundreds of km – Tajikistan is on the other side of the river.

The town of Kalai Khum. This flight took 29 minutes to cover the distance what was a drive of seven hours two days earlier. 

Faizobod, 50 km from Dushanbe.

The town of Vahdat with a large stadium.

The suburbs of Dushanbe.

A new runway is being built at Dushanbe Airport.

We landed in Dushanbe Airport at 11.51 and we stopped at our parking position at 11.54

The captain was the first to get off as he went to walk around the aircraft.

A photo of the first three rows of the aircraft after landing. 

The plane from the back: you can see the ladder used to climb in if you zoom in.

The luggage area. Some airport workers are casually having lunch in the background.