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The Civil Aviation Agency of Uzbekistan has certified the country’s first private MRO provider, Centrum Best MRO. The company is a joint venture established by the largest Uzbek private airline group, My Freighter, and Kyiv-based Best MRO group.
Centrum Best MRO was initially approved to perform maintenance and repairs of aircraft wheels and brakes and battery units, and it has received a D1 rating for nondestructive testing. Its capability list now includes Airbus A320, A321, A330, Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft—all types operated by My Freighter and its passenger subsidiary airline, Centrum Air.
According to Best MRO Group, the joint venture plans to expand the scope of serviced components and the capability list. It also seeks to establish customers from outside Uzbekistan. “In our view, Uzbekistan possesses great potential today to become a major Central Asian aviation hub,” the company said in a statement.
Since the Uzbek government liberalized its air transport regulations in 2018, the local market has seen numerous private cargo and passenger airline startups emerge to challenge the monopoly of the government-owned flag carrier, Uzbekistan Airways. According to IATA, Uzbekistan has demonstrated one of the highest passenger traffic growth rates among all Asian nations.
According to Uzbekistan’s National Statistics Committee, the country had 9.7 million commercial air passengers in 2025, up from 6.8 million the previous year.
My Freighter Group was one of the major drivers behind such growth. Launched in 2022 by logistics operator Centrum Holding, it now operates a fleet of 26 aircraft between My Freighter and Centrum Air, including the Boeing 757-200, 767-300, Airbus A320 family and A330-300.
The group is eyeing rapid fleet and network expansions. Its network currently spans both the East and the West, with a hub in Tashkent. The group has announced plans to operate 25 passenger aircraft and 15 freighters by the end of 2026 and to have 50 jets of each kind by the end of the decade.
The launch of the MRO facility is part of this expansion strategy. Central Asia’s local maintenance capacity is limited to government-owned facilities, including Uzbekistan Airways Technics and Air Astana’s maintenance center. The former provides base maintenance to both the parent airline and third-party clients in Uzbekistan and across the region, but it cannot keep up with growing demand.
Uzbek authorities expect the local commercial fleet to grow by 15 jets this year to 120 aircraft. The country will, for the first time, overtake neighboring Kazakhstan, which plans to have only 118 commercial airliners by year-end. However, the balance could shift by 2030 when Kazakhstan expects to operate 216 aircraft, while Uzbekistan targets just 180.
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