Air Astana president comments on the launch of Air Kazakhstan

Peter Foster, President of Air Astana comments on the launch of Air Kazakhstan; “Air Astana has been involved in the discussions of the formation of a regional airline with our majority shareholder,

Peter Foster, President of Air Astana comments on the launch of Air Kazakhstan; “Air Astana has been involved in the discussions of the formation of a regional airline with our majority shareholder, Samruk-Kazyna, since we retired the Fokker 50 fleet last January. There are many domestic airports we cannot serve with our all jet fleet, and it was therefore imperative that steps be taken to serve these cities with modern turboprops operating to internationally compliant standards. Bombardier’s Q400 clearly meets this criterion. We welcome the decision, and expect to work closely with the new airline to jointly develop these markets for the benefit of both airlines, and of the travelling public.”

Air Astana commenced regular flight operations on 15 May 2002 and currently operates a network of over 60 international and domestic routes from hubs in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau. Air Astana operates an all-western fleet of Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 family aircraft and Embraer E-190. Air Astana became the first carrier from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe to be awarded the prestigious 4-Star rating by Skytrax in its World Airline Awards 2012 and was named The Best Airline in Central Asia and India. Both accolades were repeated in 2013.

Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s national wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, with respective shares of 51% and 49%

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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