Air Astana boosts long haul services to Asia

Friday 3rd December, 2010

Air Astana, the flag carrier of the Republic of Kazakhstan, is increasing frequency on the Almaty to Bangkok route to four services per week with effect from 5th December. The additional Saturday service willbe operated by Boeing 757 with a 16 business class / 150 economy seat configuration, with the existing three services continuing to be operated by Boeing 767 with 30 business class / 190 economy seat configuration on Sundays & Wednesdays and by Boeing 757 on Fridays. Overall seating capacity on the route will increase by almost 30% in order to match the steady increase in traffic between Kazakhstan and Asia & Australia.

Services on the Almaty to Kuala Lumpur route were increased to twice weekly on 3rd November. Flights to Kuala Lumpur now operate on Sundays and Wednesdays, with the new return flight on Thursdays providing more flexibility to passengers who may have previously returned mid-week via Air Astana’s Bangkok service.

Air Astana’s services to other long-haul destinations in Asia remain unchanged, with Almaty to Beijing served five times a week, Almaty to New Dehli served three times a week and Almaty to Seoul served twice a week.

To improve comfort on all long haul routes, the entire Boeing 757 fleet was recently re-equipped with lie-flat Sleeper Business Class seats and the KCTV personal entertainment system.

“Passenger demand for Air Astana’s award winning services to Asia continues to grow strongly and the airline is delighted to respond with increased frequencies on the long haul routes to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Given the prevailing shift of global influence and commercial dynamism towards Asia in general, I foresee continued expansion of Air Astana’s network of services to the region in the years ahead,” said Peter Foster, President, Air Astana.

Air Astana commenced regular flight operations on 15th May 2002 and currently operates a network that serves 23 domestic and 23 international destinations from its hubs in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau. The airline flies an all western fleet comprising of two Boeing 767s, four Boeing 757s, ten Airbus A320 Family and six Fokker 50 aircraft. Air Astana is a full member of the International Air Transport Association and is the only airline in Kazakhstan with EASA Part 145 aircraft maintenance certification.

Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s JS Company “Sovereign Wealth Fund SamrukKazyna” (51%) and BAE Systems (49%).