Mumbai07 Oct 22 1 Traveller Economy
Showing International Flight from Madrid
About Madrid
Madrid is one of the hottest holiday destinations in Spain and no, and we are not talking about the weather here. It's not as popular as Barcelona, but it is definitely a city that you must visit. Spain is one of the cheapest holiday destinations in Europe compared to other countries and is worth every penny spent. Madrid is an architectural marvel and is also known for its rich culture. You will occasionally run into an old Spanish Grandma or another local who is all excited to help you with directions or hand you a list of the best attractions to visit in the city. There are high chances of you befriending a lot of locals and staying in touch with them later on through social media. Not to mention, the city is musically inclined, and you will find yourself attending quite a few music festivals here. Of course, Madrid is also popular for its food, and you will want to visit the city again just for the gastronomic experience.
Best Time to Visit Madrid
Summer is one of the most popular times for tourists to plan a vacation to Madrid. However, a lot of local shops are shut during this time since the owners also take a vacation. If you don't mind the scorching heat, this is the best time to fly to Madrid. The temperature ranges from 15 to 31 degree Celsius in summer. You might also want to book your hotel in Madrid well in advance if you are planning to visit the city in summer. You can attend quite a few festivals and events during summers like the International Gay Pride, Mad Cool Festival, Feria del Libro and Veranos de la Villa. Tourists also prefer taking a taxi to get around the city instead of walking around to avoid the heat.
September to November is the autumn season in Madrid and quite pleasant, too. The temperature ranges from 6 to 26 degree Celsius, and this is also when most locals return from their vacations. The shops remain open, and you get to enjoy the highlights of the city at its best. You can also attend the Autumn Festival that happens in October and November. December to February are the coldest months in Madrid. The temperature ranges from 2 to 12 degree Celsius, January being the coldest month. This is also the best time to book a hotel in Madrid or get cheap flight tickets to Madrid since it is not a high season.
Spring season is from March to May and is a pleasant time to head to Madrid. It is right before the high season, so the locals are preparing to welcome a lot of tourists. The hotel prices are low this season and flight tickets are also pretty cheap. The temperature ranges from 5 to 21 degree Celsius and a lot of tourist spots are also open. The best part is that you get to hog the city to yourself since it is not very crowded.
Places to Visit in Madrid
Plaza Mayor, originally called Plaza del Arrabal, is a major tourist attraction in Madrid. You will find yourself admiring the architecture of the place and take lots of pictures. Royal Palace of Madrid is yet another tourist spot that has a lot of historical importance. It was built right where the Moorish Castle was destroyed in 1734 after a tragic fire broke out. It is one of the most important tourist spots in the city. You can also visit the National Museum of History, called the Museo Nacional Del Prado. It houses some of the best masterpieces by renowned artists like Van Dyck, Goya, El Greco, Rembrandt and so on. You will find paintings that date back to the 11th and 18th century. The Temple of Debod was a gift to the city by former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Catch the best of artist Francisco Goya's paintings at the Royal Chapel of St Anthony of La Florida. The church also has the remains of the artist who was buried in front of the altar.
Teatro Real, or the Royal Theatre, is considered to be one of the best opera houses in all of Europe. It has a seating capacity of 1745 people, and you can even get a guide to take you through the theatre. You can also visit the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a monument that took approximately 20 years to construct. Watch some of the most beautiful fountains at the Plaza de Cibeles. It is also home to the bank of Spain, Linares Palace and Buenavista Palace. Madrid also has a happening nightlife scene. You can head to Barrio de La Latina for some delectable tapas, go dancing and have some amazing beer. However, if crowded places are a deal-breaker for you, you might want to steer clear of visiting the place on weekends.
Things to do in Madrid
You can go on a guided tour of the city. Reserve a day for museums, another day for art tours and a few days to sit back, relax and party. Madrid's nightlife scene is quite exciting. Make sure you visit museums like Museo del Prado, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo Sorolla and Museo Reina Sofia. It would be advisable to hire a guide for your museum tour. You'll get to know a lot more interesting facts about the city. You will find yourself appreciating the architecture, and you will be amazed at everything that you see in the museums. If you want to spend your evening relaxing at El Retiro, one of the most beautiful parks in Madrid. You can either plan a picnic on the grass or go boating around the lake in the park. If you are at Plaza Mayor, make sure you try the squid roll here. You will find a lot of restaurants here that serve delicious squid rolls. It is one of the most popular dishes to try here. You can head to Gran Via for a shopping spree and to La Latina for some tapas. Madrid is also easily accessible to other cities in Spain, and you can also cover other major cities in Spain like Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Ibiza and more. Madrid is a place you can visit with your family or your friends. You can also pack your bags and head for a solo trip to Madrid.
Food and Restaurants in Madrid
Traditional Madrid food consists of meat, bread and cheese. It's best tasted in tapas, samples of small plates of Spanish dishes. They come free with the drinks that you order at the bars. Mercado de San Miguel, a popular market that is located right outside Plaza Mayor, offers tapas along with cocktails, dessert, coffee and produce stalls. You can head over to El Tigre if you want to try some complimentary tapas along with your favourite cocktail. The restaurant serves a large plate of tapas, and even though the place is quite loud, you will enjoy your time here. You can also try paella (which is rice with fish), croquetas (fried breadcrumb rolls dish that is filled with mashed potatoes, meat and cheese), Espanola (potato omelette that you will fall in love with) and gazpacho, which is cold soup. You cannot leave Madrid without trying the famous jamón Iberico, one of the most expensive hams in the world. You will also find a lot of Indian, Asian, Chinese and Latin American cuisine in Madrid. Kathmandu Tandoori House Nepali serves the best Indian and Nepali cuisine. You can head to Antonio of Italia a Tavola for authentic Italian food. If you want to try street food that's also healthy, you can try Azotea Forus Barcelo and to Empanadas Malvon Retiro for Argentinean cuisine. Gramabar is a popular spot for everyone who is in the mood for American, Caribbean and Venezuelan cuisine.
How to reach Madrid (Transportation)
Madrid International Airport is called Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and is situated in the Barajas district. It is about 12 km away from the city centre. The flight connectivity to Madrid from India is excellent. Turkish Airlines, EgyptAir, Lufthansa, Air France are some of the airlines that fly to Madrid quite frequently with layovers at Istanbul, Cairo, Munich and Paris; these are the most popular routes to Madrid by air. If you book in advance, there are high chances that you get cheap flight tickets to Madrid. You will also come across decent flight deals to Madrid online. Madrid Airport is well-equipped with WiFi, lounges and also has a sleeping room in case you want to reach the airport early and wait for your flight. There are lots of taxi and bus services from the airport to your hotel. If you are on a Europe trip and Madrid is on your itinerary, you can also take the Eurail that connects to France and Italy as well. Though you can reach Madrid by rail and road from any other European country, taking a flight to Madrid is one of the most convenient ways to travel.
About Uzbekistan Airways
JSC Uzbekistan Airways which primarily works as Uzbekistan Airways, is the national flag carrier of Uzbekistan. The airline's headquarters is in Tashkent while its hub is at Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport. The airline caters to a plethora of domestic routes and destinations with a handful of international routes across Europe, Asia and North America. Following the disbandment of the Soviet Union in 1992, the then president of Uzbekistan Islan Karimov authorised to create its own national carrier, Uzbekistan Airways. The same year, the airline was established, and operations of the Uzbekistan division of Aeroflot were conducted. In 1993, the airline acquired its first two Airbus A310-300s as part of its fleet. Along with the two Airbus aircraft, Uzbekistan Airways' fleet also comprised Russian-manufactured aircraft such as Yakovlev Yak-40s, Ilyushin II-62 and Antonov An-24/26s, to name a few. In the same year, the airline also ordered for its first Boeing aircraft, two Boeing 767-300ERs and a single Boeing 757. They also played as the launch customers for the Russian aircraft Ilyushin II-114.
The national flag carrier is recognised worldwide as the best operator of Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. As of 2016-17, Uzbekistan Airways also showcased that they have the best figure with no-accident exploitation of aircraft Boeing 787 Dreamliner among other airline operators of the same aircraft in the world. With this, they became one of the only airlines in the world to provide 100 percent safety with respect to aircrafts such as Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Following the same, Uzbekistan Airways also received an award by the Boeing Company for following the safety protocols to function the said type of aircraft. The airline's Dreamliners have flight operations to international routes such as Dubai, Delhi, Istanbul, Seoul, Moscow, Singapore, New York via Latvia, Kuala Lumpur, Amritsar and more. The airline also introduced a direct flight route Tashkent - New York - Tashkent with their Dreamliner aircraft. In 2000, Uzbekistan Airways employed 16,296 staff and further worked on its expansions and airport upgradation.
As of 2014, the airline carried about 2.625 million passengers, which was a 1.9 per cent dip from the previous year's cumulative figure. Instead, the cargo transport saw an increase of 4.6 per cent. Uzbekistan Airways made quite a few changes with its hub airport too, in order to accommodate better facilities for the flights. In fact, it is recognised to have one of the largest high-technological air cargo complexes in the Central Asia region. Along with this, the airline has also introduced better passenger terminals with comfortable facilities for the passengers. It has been reported that there are many aviation services that have expressed interest in cooperating and working with Uzbekistan Airways. The airline, with its repair and maintenance provisions for aircraft, has snagged the attention of several airline companies and aircraft manufacturers. Much recently, the airline also proposed a project to construct Uzbekistan Airways's Air company that would cater to a self base with provisions of a training school to enable teaching and schooling the crew and airline staff.
Fleet size of Uzbekistan Airways
As of 2020, the fleet size of Uzbekistan Airways stands at 32 with variants of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. In 2007, the airline ordered six Airbus A320s to be part of the fleet. During the time of the order, the airline had a strong fleet of 55 aircraft. Ten of the aircraft were of different models and included Russian-crafted planes such as Yakovlev Yak-40, among them. The same year, Uzbekistan Airways ordered two Boeing 787-8s to join its fleet. Later in 2008, the airline further added four more orders of Boeing 767-300ERs for a whopping cost of USD 597 million as part of the deal. They also boosted their order of Airbus A320 to ten aircraft. The airline received the first batch of its Airbus A320 delivery in 2010 which kickstarted its Tashkent-Baku route. The four Boeing 767-300ERs that were ordered in 2008 were also delivered to the airline in 2012. In the same year, Uzbekistan Airlines returned the An-24 aircraft from active operations. Following year, Islamic Development Bank signed a deal of USD 270 million with the Uzbekistan government to utilise part of the finances to acquire two Boeing aircraft for Uzbekistan Airways. Airbus A310 also retired from active operations in 2013. Further, the airline converted two of its oldest Boeing 767-300ER aircraft into freight carriers.
Baggage allowance
Baggage allowance on Uzbekistan Airways is the same as what is followed globally by a majority of airlines. The free baggage that is part of the passenger ticket includes the weight of not more than 30 kg for business class and 20 kg for economy class respectively. The domestic routes of Uzbekistan Airways enable more baggage allowance which comprises 32 kg and 23 kg for business class and economy class respectively. However, for a majority of international routes, the same baggage allowance does not apply. Passengers should ensure that their baggage weight does not exceed the stated weight. As for hand baggage, the airline cannot exceed the dimensions of more than 115 cm for the bag. The hand baggage must fall within the dimensions of 56 x 45 x 25 cm. These bags need to fit perfectly in the overhead bin and enable swift accommodation for other passenger baggage too. All the passengers flying from Uzbekistan Airways are allowed to carry only one hand baggage with an additional small bag that could be a crutch, a handbag, a laptop bag or a briefcase. These bags should be small enough to fit under the front seat.
In-flight services
In-flight services that can be experienced on Uzbekistan Airways' aircraft is quite decent. The airline has worked to bring forth facilities and amenities on board that would help cater to the comfort of the passengers. They have introduced reclining seats that are of leather. The ones in the business class even turn into flat beds, giving the passengers the luxury they seek. The airline has installed personal entertainment systems for individual seats with the latest entertainment content such as movies, TV shows and music. The in-flight meal services are also present and complimentary for passengers who are travelling on medium-haul or long haul flights. The hospitality of the in-flight crew is also extremely good.
Popular routes and top cities for Uzbekistan Airways
Uzbekistan Airways offers extremely strong domestic route connections as well as international route connections. Much of the international operations of Uzbekistan Airways take place from Tashkent. However, the airline does offer services to domestic cities that enable passengers to fly to other countries. The airline hasn't become part of any airline alliance as of 2020. A majority of flight services of the airline cater to East European and Central Asian cities. It is also a big player in the Russian aviation industry. It offers services to a slew of Russian cities such as Kazan, Moscow, Sochi, Saint Petersburg, Ufa, Volgograd, Moscow, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Voronezh. As for international routes that the airline caters to, some of the cities are Baku, Minsk, Beijing, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Delhi, Amritsar, Mumbai, Jakarta, Tel Aviv, Milan, Rome, Tokyo-Narita, Almaty, Riga, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, Jeddah, Phuket, Istanbul, Dubai and London-Heathrow. Flight services for its domestic routes cater to cities such as Andijan, Fergana, Navoi, Nukus, Samarkand, Tashkent, Urgench, Termez, Qarshi, Bukhara and Namangan, in Uzbekistan.
Why travel from Uzbekistan Airways?
Uzbekistan Airways, in its 28 years, has managed to gain quite a lot of momentum in the aviation industry of the country. In fact, it has raked in a lot of attention from neighbouring countries, including Russia. Over the years, the airline has included a slew of domestic route cities in its list of destinations, enabling excellent connectivity across the country. Further, the airline has also introduced various international route connectivity such as the one from Tashkent to New York City with Riga as its one-stop. These have further enabled the airline to receive a good name among frequent passengers. Uzbekistan Airways has allowed regional cities to cross borders and reach various European, Russian and North American cities. However, the perks of travelling by Uzbekistan Airways doesn't end there. Their fleet also has the latest aircraft that function on high-technological engines and parts. This has helped with the airline's efficiency and lack of accidents or technical concerns.
While these reasons do stand out as it offers safety to the passengers onboard, Uzbekistan Airways' in-flight services are also worth mentioning. They have the best seats, extremely friendly crew and also have intriguing baggage allowance deals for passengers. The airline recently introduced their mobile app that would enable travellers to know more about Uzbekistan Airways' flight schedules, do web check-ins to save time and get a heads up on the flight status. Passengers can book an Uzbekistan Airways flight and save the ticket details on the app. The same can be presented at the airline's check-in counter with barely any discrepancy. The airline does have frequent flyer programmes that can be quite beneficial for the passengers who choose their airline or travel to the routes offered by Uzbekistan Airways.
