The first Airbus A321XLR for private Uzbek carrier Qanot Sharq has been spotted as it left the paint shop at the Airbus Finkenwerder facility, near Hamburg, Germany, where it is being readied for delivery.
Some images of this aircraft, already in Qanot Sharq’s blue and white livery and sporting a logo promoting its home country of Uzbekistan, have emerged on social media.
This aircraft (weearing still a temporary Airbus test registration D-AYAB), which is expected to enter service before the end of 2025, will become the first A321XLR aircraft to be based in Central Asia. It is also the first of three A321XLRs that Qanot Shark leased from Air Lease Corporation in February 2025. That order also included two A321LR aircraft.
As of October 2025, Qanot Sharq operates an all-Airbus fleet which includes two A320ceo and one A321neo aircraft in addition to two A330s. In addition to the aforementioned XLR and LR aircraft, Qanot Shark has an additional regular a320neo on order, as well.
Launched in 2021, Qanot Sharq is part of a crop of new Uzbek airlines which are taking advantage of the liberalization of the country’s air travel market and its opening to tourism. This seismic change in Uzbekistan’s regulatory regime has resulted in a booming number of visitors to the Central Asian country, to the point that the government has activated plans to significantly expand its airport infrastructure. Earlier in October 2025, Uzbek president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, broke ground for the construction of a new US$2.5 billion international airport in the country’s capital.
In this regard, Qanot Shark has ambitious plans to expand its network across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and even as far as the United States. In October 2025, the Uzbek airline filed an application with the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to be able to operate a twice weekly service between Tashkent (TAS) and New York (JFK) via Budapest (BUD).
While Uzbekistan and the United States have had an Open Skies agreement since 1998, if confirmed, Qanot Sharq’s will become the first and, so far, only direct service linking the US and Central Asia.
