Air Astana, the award-winning Kazakh flag carrier, celebrated 16 years of successful operation in the Russian market at a press event with Moscow’s leading journalists and bloggers.
During the event, Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana, received a gold award to become a “Honorary Member of the World Community for the Lives of Great People” for his achievements in significantly contributing to the development of commercial air transport across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Air Astana inaugurated services to Russia in September 2002, with the first flights from Astana and Almaty to Moscow. Between 2009 and 2012, additional services were launched from Astana to Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Omsk and St. Petersburg, as well as from Almaty to Kazan and St. Petersburg. Earlier this month, two new services commenced from Astana to Tyumen and Kazan, which brought the total number Russian cities being served from Kazakhstan to seven.
“Russia continues to be one of Air Astana’s most important markets together with China and India,” said Peter Foster. “Air Astana currently operates daily flights from Moscow, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, with many of our passengers taking advantage of onward connections from the Astana and Almaty hubs to destinations in Asia, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Gulf.”
Since 2012 Air Astana has transported almost 4.5 million passengers and 24,000 tons of cargo on flights to Russia, with revenue passenger-kilometers exceeding 13 million. During the first half of 2018, the passenger load factor on Russian services was almost 70%.
Air Astana’s Stopover Holidays Program is very popular with Russian passengers, with Astana and Almaty packages including one night’s accommodation and airport transfers starting from only $1. (Kazinform/Business World Magazine)