Air Astana reports net profit of $51.4 million

ASTANA, Kazakhstan – Air Astana has declared a profit after tax of US$51.4 million for the full year 2013. Whilst a 15.7% decline over 2012, the airline stated that without the combined effect of a one-off revenue adjustment in 2012 and currency exchange loss in 2013, underlying profit would have slightly exceeded that of the previous year. Passenger numbers increased by 13.5% to 3.7 million and airline revenues by 10.5% to US$967 million.

At the end of the year the airline’s fleet stood at 30 aircraft with an average age of 6.4 years, following the retirement of the remainder of the Fokker 50 fleet and the introduction of new Boeing 767-300 ERs and Airbus A320s to replace older aircraft of the same type. The airline also increased its Embraer 190 fleet to eight aircraft.

Air Astana President Peter Foster stated, “the airline made significant fleet and product upgrades in 2013, in addition to introducing new regional and long-haul routes. These are investments for the long term, and enable us to continue to strengthen our position as the leader in this region’s aviation markets. Of course, we were delighted to have been awarded ‘Best Airline, Central Asia and India’ by Skytrax for the second year running.”