World Monitor Mag, Digitalisation WM_June 2019 web | Page 97
Air Astana celebrates
seventeenth anniversary
Since the first flight was performed between Almaty and
Nur-Sultan (former Astana) on 15th May 2002, the airline
has carried a total of 44 million passengers and performed
almost 500,000 flights. Air Astana’s route network currently
extends to more than 60 international and domestic flights,
with the fleet comprising of 34 Airbus, Boeing and Embraer
aircraft.
Air Astana was established in 2001 at the initiative of the
First President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who
set the task of creating a world-class airline to develop
air transportation on domestic and international flights
in compliance with international technical standards and
providing the opportunity for training of Kazakhstan citizens.
The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and UK
company, BAE Systems PLC invested US$17 mln in the
airline at the outset. Since 2002, Air Astana has paid more
than US$435 mln in taxes and other payments to the state
budget and has created over 5,000 professional jobs. The
growth of the company has been achieved entirely with
internal and loaned funds, with no demands on the state
budget, which makes the airline one of the most profitable
state investments.
Air Astana continues to recruit young people who dream of
becoming pilots under the airline’s ab-initio program. Since
2009, Air Astana has trained more than 200 young Kazakh
ab-initio pilots at prestigious international flight schools.
In May this year, Air Astana took a major initiative by
launching of FlyArystan, a low-cost airline. FlyArystan was
created to stimulate the domestic market and attract wider
section of the Kazakh population to travel by air and serve
international destinations in the future.
This year also marked the arrival of Air Astana’s second
Embraer 190-E2 aircraft, with delivery of three further
aircraft by the end of 2019. Deliveries of the new fleet of
Airbus A320neo also continues, with 13 aircraft scheduled
to arrive by the end of 2020. Air Astana’s route network
includes more than 60 international and domestic flights,
and the fleet consists of 34 modern aircraft. The airline
operates in full compliance with international technical
standards.
Air Astana’s commitment to deliver the very highest levels
of passenger experience has been recognized by the global
travel website TripAdvisor for the second year in succession,
with the airline being named as the best “Regional Asian
Carrier” and best for “Passenger Comfort in Asia”. Air
Astana is also a seven-time winner of the Skytrax award for
the Best Airline in Central Asia and India.
supported by EUROBAK
91