The Central Asia Aviation Cargo Summit drew 340 representatives from airlines, airports, logistics groups and regulators to Tashkent on 30 September and 1 October, with infrastructure, multimodal links and digital standards topping the agenda.

Hosted in Uzbekistan's capital, the two-day gathering convened carriers including Silk Way West Airlines, Saudia Cargo, DHL Global Forwarding, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Atlas Air alongside airports at Tashkent, Navoi and Almaty. The lineup places Central Asia's established gateways in direct conversation with the freight operators that already move traffic across Eurasia, and signals how seriously regional stakeholders now treat digitisation as a prerequisite for capacity growth.

Where does the freight need to go?

Catalin Radu, CEO and director general of RGC AvNet, opened the conference alongside Henrik Hololei, a former director general at the European Commission. Panels then worked through how air, rail and road networks could combine to serve China, Europe, the Middle East and beyond — a question Central Asian airports can no longer answer with point-to-point capacity alone.

Discussions ran through ACMI provisioning, scheduled and charter services, express logistics and e-commerce flows, with Chapman Freeborn, Centrum Air and EMEX / FedEx Central Asia among those weighing in. Perishables, high-value shipments and last-mile delivery came up repeatedly as demand layers reshaping infrastructure requirements, not simply adding to volume.

Is digitalisation ready?

The conference framed data exchange as the gating factor, not capacity. An IATA roundtable gathered the association, Lufthansa Cargo, Qatar Airways, Centrum Air / My Freighter and Uzbekistan's Customs Committee to examine certification, ONE Record implementation, regulatory modernisation and system interoperability.

Stakeholders highlighted IATA standards, ONE Record, data sharing, artificial intelligence in cargo sales, terminal automation and cybersecurity as the levers that will determine whether added capacity translates into shorter handling times and lower unit costs. Hans Infomatic addressed cargo terminal automation and cybersecurity on the second day.

Which gateway wins the cargo?

Tashkent Airport, Navoi International Airport and Almaty International Airport each outlined cargo development strategies. A wider panel brought together Silk Way West Airlines, Centrum Air, EMEX / FedEx Central Asia, Atlas Air, Lufthansa Cargo, Chapman Freeborn, Turkish Airlines and Navoi International Airport to compare the three hubs.

Aélia, YDA Group, Pacific Air Holdings, Malakut Insurance Brokers and Turkish Technology joined separate sessions on insurance, regional gateways, special cargo and customs procedures as cross-border e-commerce expands.

What stands in the way of growth?

Day two turned to operational constraints. A final panel involving Qanot Sharq, Centrum Air, Jupiter Jet and SCAT Airlines focused on training, professional skills and staffing levels — a reminder that workforce availability is already an emerging constraint on further expansion.

What was actually signed?

The summit produced two disclosed agreements: one between RGC AvNet and AeroClass, and a separate memorandum between the Civil Aviation Authority of Romania and the Civil Aviation Authority of Uzbekistan. The Romanian-Uzbek aviation arrangement points to concrete bilateral cooperation between regulators framing market access on either side of the Black Sea–Caspian corridor.

What comes next?

For airlines, the prize is linking regional gateways with established trade lanes across Eurasia. For airports, the task is to build the infrastructure and operating environment required to attract and retain those flows — without adding manual handling capacity that regional labour markets will struggle to staff.

Whether the partnerships, regulatory engagement and digital commitments outlined in Tashkent translate into measurable improvements in handling times, capacity utilisation and route economics will define the next phase of Central Asia's air cargo ambitions.