The EU ban is for "All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Kyrgyzstan" - which typically means they don't trust the aviation regulator to actually regulate.

A few years ago, I did the trip from Bishkek to Osh on a taxi with two friends. It took 11 hours, cost us a grand total of $80 and allowed us to enjoy the spectacular landscapes, ranging from mountain passes to a beautiful lake in a very hot and dry area of the country.

The ban is there for a very good reason, which is a systematic and willful failure to enforce mandatory regulations. The aircraft might be new and in top condition now..the question is how it will be in a few years when the typically very relaxed approach to maintennance and safety bulletins has had a chance to take effect.

Good to see some things are looking up - Kyrgyzstan has so much potential. I think the EU ban had more to do with ground/security infrastructure than the domestic airlines

Ah yes, when the domestic departure check-in is in the INTERNATIONAL area... *LOGIC 100*

Nice to see your fellow passengers utilising the old "Chin hammock".

We were supposed to do this flight together... thanks to covid! Great Video as always 😊

The 3:2 seat configuration reminds me of my Fokker 100 days.

I'm agreed with you about the Airbus A220, it's a fantastic jet to fly. It's not a DC9/717/MD but it's about as good as it gets in the modern era. great seat configuration.

Thank you Noel for show a nice country like this !! I was there in 2009 and was amazing

The A220 looks fantastic. It gives me good vibes and I have a feeling that this aircraft is as safe as you can get in kyrgyzstan.

So this is how you bring your own IFE, Kyrgyz style @ 16:30.

Bet that taxi driver believes he's living in a Fast & Furious movie

Love the A220. Based in GVA, I get to fly it often. However, I find it unusually loud if you sit over wing or just behind the engines. Best is to sit up front or at the very back.

✈️ Noel, you should plan a flight from Riga with AirBaltics Airbus A220-300 a.k.a CS300, and compare the flight with the inaugural flight witch you took 4.5y ago 😊 And also it would be an 'quality' update because, back in the day video was 360p and without any stabilization.

Great video! The A220 is my favourite regional jets - such a capable little aircraft!

Another great video. Keep up the good work Noel!

It's not the aircraft you have to worry about, it's the Nimrods in the maintenance department.

It's definitely more dangerous on the ground than in the air. Glad you avoided the scolding by Rachel for the loss of the card. 😂

Love these videos on different airlines and areas!

The design of the cabin ... with those posh orange seats ... is stunning.

Excellent video. Here in Canada I fly I on the A220-300, 2-3 times per month. It truly is a dream regional airplane. Thanks for sharing

Great video! You're the best!

Great video as always, glad you got your card back

Love the description of the cab ride 😂

Air Austral the other day took delivery of their first A220-300 from Montréal and flew it to Paris Charles de Gaulle from New Brunswick Canada over Ireland and the UK.

Love the content!

The A220/ 320 Neo really are beautiful commercial aircraft Esp love those P&W geared turbofan engines w/ that odd 'howl' pre spool up Super quiet!

16:52 you got me Noel. I thought you were on take off and that turn made my stomach drop.

7:35 A decent amount of leg room lol. Props to you keep up the vids.

Realy nice video great rewieving 8:22 that melody made me so happy that i cried.🙂

Great vlog as always! If you still want to fly the MD-80, contact DAT, Danish Air Transport. They still have ONE MD-83 flying. OY-RUE. The last time I saw it on TV it was flying the danes home from England after fotball exit. I will do a deal with you. Ask how much the need to let us charter the plane, and we can rent it for a few hours…

8:20 my gosh the mum and the baby behind you, that was so adorable

Great video as always! The livery is very Swiss. From instance you could be forgiven to think it was one of their A220. Air fares definitely seem to be very cheap in that part of the world. ✈️

Ho Noel, A great little video, looking at check in and the chaos, you still see that in the UK.

I was just in Bishkek again (lived there a few years back) and booked the TezJet RJ85 because I’d only ever been on the 100 before! I didn’t know manas was even operating anymore because Kyrgyz airlines come and go so quickly 😂 this made me happy to see a bit of real Kyrgyz life seen by another foreigner and shown to the world, thanks Noel and sorry I couldn’t see y’a in Bishkek!

The EU doesent trust that the Kyrgys Aviation people will actually Regulate the Airlines properly, and enforce safety standards even if the individual company is doing great. Air Manas Might get an Exception like certain other countries airlines have gotten before despite the Ban on the countrys airlines.

I really enjoyed your review Noel. Will pass it to my friend who works for Air Manas. And many thanks for your kind words about my homeland.

Excellent Amigo, hello from Dublin Ireland and God bless you on all your travels.

One of the things regulators look at now is operational procedures and training. Specifically Crew Resource Management(CRM). CRM goes into how flight crews interact. Do older experienced pilots rule the cockpit by intimidation or does the younger 1st officer have the ability thru training to raise questions in a difficult situation. It is one of the reasons for a two person crew on the flight deck. In any number of aircraft incidents a co pilot quite literally sat on his hands as a senior pilot made deadly errors. The list is long of cases. Many times a carrier and regulatory authority had to fight with cultural norms to make improvements. In the US it has resulted in a period of over ten years without any passenger fatalities. It includes things like the USAir ditching in the Hudson River with no fatalities, in freezing cold temperatures.

Looks like you need a curve card sponsorship deal Noel 😉 - have had the exact same happen to me in regards to foreign atms swallowing my card. I wasn't quite as lucky as you getting mine back, the Thai bank just said, get a new one aha.

14:39 Feels patriotic seeing "Champion KENYA" 🇰🇪 signage at the airport.

Great Video Noel, Air Manas seems a joy to fly, especially onboard the A220

Look what the A220 did to Air Baltic, its amazing. It can transform an entire airline massively. It’s good to maintain, hyper efficient, very safe, great payload, good range, great comfort. It’s an amazing plane by bombardier. Great that Airbus did the merge with bombardier.

20:57 nearly the end headed into the terminal a guy had hand carried a small desktop with him on the flight. Fun stuff.

I enjoyed the video!

great video as always .you mentioned your taxi driver trying to break speed records.remember mine doing 98 miles an hour going to IST istanbul airport.glad your last taxi driver was'nt so fast as your were not wearing your seat belt.rachel will probably give you a bollocking for that and not the credit card.

Great video 🛫✈️

Love the turquoise acoustic engine liner colour

GREAT VIDEO NOEL I LOVE IT

Such a great video! To be honest I would probably do what you have done Noel and fly on both the old and modern planes! I have still not flown on the A220 yet but I really want to 😊

The a220 looks really good I would love to fly on it

i loved the flight i enjoy flying with you all the time i also love the country brings back a long lost feeling deja vu you can say greetings from the netherlands

I'm new to your channel and its brilliant content mate 👌 well done

Keep up the great videos 🌏

18:17 lovely music and amazing scenery😍❤️❤️❤️❤️

I thought it was a Swiss International very similar scheme! I have been on CS100 and CS300 great aircraft to fly. 👍😊

Awesome plane with the 2-3 seats the huge toilet at the back!

Great video! How do you attach the camera to the window for these beautifull time laps shots? :)

A new aircraft does not mean good regulatory oversight…

Travelled to Kyrgyzstan for 20 years for work on a regular monthly rotation. Very different airport. In 1995,1996 when started there. Manas was interesting experience.Hotels were very interesting. No ATM’s back then.

That difficult ATM seems unusual to me, too! I am surprised and pleased you were able to get them to help you retrieve your card. Actually, very surprised!

Great video

I had a similar experience with the check in at FRU. Confusing! The new A 220 is a great improvement over the old 737-700 I flew the last time I went to Osh. Thanks for the video!

Very smooth landing I must say on the first flight

14:36 Love the woman checking in holding a framed painting. 😂

Brings back memories of flying out of Manas, checking in is so disorganised and last minute......you realise how orderly other airports are!

Can I please ask what the music was during the end when you were explaining the old planes for geeks and new planes for regular fliers?

At SFO there are a few domestic airlines that check in at the international terminal, even for domestic flights. I want to say it was Virgin (before being acquired by Alaska) and a few others.

Bangkok air have great Air con,Hopefully get back to Koh Samui soon.. Have you been on Bangkok air ?, nice wee flight to Samui take under 1hr.. Great videos keep up the good work.

All because a plane is new, doesn't mean it is safe to fly. How it is being maintained, and flown is very important to safety.

I do wonder sometimes how some airlines manage to remain banned and others with quite questionable practices are allowed to continue operating. Thanks for the video, Noel.

Definitely the A220 for me, what a beautiful plane x

Hi You genuinely make amazing videos and the reviews are very informative, covering just the right amount of information coupled up with the uncanny humour. I hope you visit Lahore, Pakistan someday and I can take you around the city. Great content, I watch all your videos ever since you had 20k subscribers. Cheers Noel!

underated youtuber

My Taxi driver in Bishkek was Zooming like Noel's one was as well. Driving at like 120. 😅😅 And Beeping at peopls that were driving to slow. 😅😅

Nice video

I’m still waiting on Delta to get the 220 flying more often.

Noel Lovely report.Could you tell me in your point view ( passenger) what's makes A220 better than Embraer E2?

Always a pleasure watching your videos , very informative with a funny twist . Keep up the good work Noel and hope to see you one day here in Perth , Western Australia and join me for a flight on my electric hydrofoils .

Fair point about blanket EU ban on Kyrg airlines. However thanks to Brexit there is absolutely nothing that UK can do to influence EU to change this policy.

Beating the babushkas might be frowned upon in that part of the world Noel 😂😂😂

heard you radio5live while watching your helsinki to gatwick trip

love these oddball airlines, and the content not just about the flights, THANKS

16:29 Desktop CPU hand baggage 🙂🖥 16:48 ScareCrow

Airbus, wich you flew firstly was to be delivered to Red Wings, and after 2 years Air Manas took this plane.

Great Plane Thank you Bombardier......

Wait considering we’re not in the EU anymore, are Kyrgyz airlines still banned for us?

What are the blue, teal, white 747 in the background?

What a shame that this airline alongside other Kyrgyzstani airlines are banned in Europe! So how are you gonna back to the UK when it's time to go home? But anyway, you're one of the best aviation KZfaqrs! You deserve to stay in KZfaq for many more years to come!

excellent vlog Noel, you find the worst/fastest taxi drivers around the world!

I don't think I have heard of this C Series/A220 operater before, it sounds like an interesting operater for this aircraft type.

Excellent views when not blocked by clouds.

Safety is about maintenance regimes not how new and shiny a plane is!

If you like old Russian planes. And also military planes, you must go to the Museum located in Monino near Moscow. I was there during the World Cup and it was amazing. They have the "Russian Concorde" which was really nice to see.

I notice the A220s have a funny roaring engine noise as they come into land, AirBaltic has a few, and where I visit in Lithuania the approach path to VNO is right above, and as those A220s come over the reduce in throttle causes a big roar. Any ideas what that roar is? As I noticed on the takeoff here that it made a roar.

WHAT AN AMAZING LIFE YOU ARE LIVING! My wife won't let me do this even once.

Why is there no A220 in Europe? Three years ago, I flew this plane (although then it was called CS300) from Riga to Amsterdam and back from Riga to Moscow.. It was the first A220 of "Air Baltic"

You’re too brave

Noel You would be perfect for video on flying jump seat on cargo airliners Chui doesnt have a pock on it although he thinks he does! YOU are the mots creative!