Air Astana is a
KazakhKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
airlineAn airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.Airlines vary...
with its head office in the Air Astana Centre 1 in
AlmatyAlmaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,348,500 , which represents 9% of the population of the country....
and its
registered officeThe Registered Office is an address which is registered at the registering authority as the official address of a company, an association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record....
in
AstanaAstana , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 750,700 as of November 2008....
. It is the
national carrierA flag carrier refers to a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that is locally registered in a given country. They may be state-run, state-owned or state-designated companies or organisations with preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government...
of Kazakhstan and operates scheduled domestic and international services. Its main bases are
Astana International AirportAstana International Airport is an international airport in Kazakhstan located 14 km outside of the capital Astana.-History:The airport traces its history to 1931 when Astana's first airfield was constructed...
and
Almaty International AirportAlmaty International Airport is the largest international airport in Kazakhstan. It is located about 18 kilometers from the centre of Almaty, the country's largest city and commercial capital. Almaty airport accounts for half of passenger traffic and 68% of cargo traffic to Kazakhstan...
. Air Astana is one of the sponsor of the
Astana TeamAstana is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007...
, a professional road bicycle racing team.
Air Astana leased its first three
Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short to medium range, single aisle, narrow body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has nine variants with the -600, -700, -800 and -900 currently in production.Originally envisioned in...
aircraft in May 2002. Three
Boeing 757The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twinjet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the 757 can carry between 186 and 279 passengers, and have a maximum range of 3,100 to 3,900 nautical miles depending on variant and seating configuration...
s were added and in 2004 five Fokker 50s were acquired, the latter to largely develop the domestic network.
Air Astana is a
KazakhKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
airlineAn airline provides air transport services for passengers or freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit.Airlines vary...
with its head office in the Air Astana Centre 1 in
AlmatyAlmaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,348,500 , which represents 9% of the population of the country....
and its
registered officeThe Registered Office is an address which is registered at the registering authority as the official address of a company, an association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record....
in
AstanaAstana , is the capital and second largest city of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 750,700 as of November 2008....
. It is the
national carrierA flag carrier refers to a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that is locally registered in a given country. They may be state-run, state-owned or state-designated companies or organisations with preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government...
of Kazakhstan and operates scheduled domestic and international services. Its main bases are
Astana International AirportAstana International Airport is an international airport in Kazakhstan located 14 km outside of the capital Astana.-History:The airport traces its history to 1931 when Astana's first airfield was constructed...
and
Almaty International AirportAlmaty International Airport is the largest international airport in Kazakhstan. It is located about 18 kilometers from the centre of Almaty, the country's largest city and commercial capital. Almaty airport accounts for half of passenger traffic and 68% of cargo traffic to Kazakhstan...
. Air Astana is one of the sponsor of the
Astana TeamAstana is a professional road bicycle racing team sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Astana attained UCI ProTeam status in its inaugural year, 2007...
, a professional road bicycle racing team.
History
Air Astana leased its first three
Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short to medium range, single aisle, narrow body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has nine variants with the -600, -700, -800 and -900 currently in production.Originally envisioned in...
aircraft in May 2002. Three
Boeing 757The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twinjet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the 757 can carry between 186 and 279 passengers, and have a maximum range of 3,100 to 3,900 nautical miles depending on variant and seating configuration...
s were added and in 2004 five Fokker 50s were acquired, the latter to largely develop the domestic network. It became the national carrier after the government closed
Air KazakhstanKazakhstan Airlines was the national airline of Kazakhstan. It ended operations during the late 1990s. It operated domestic and international services...
in February 2004 and transferred all route authorities to Air Astana. It is a joint venture owned by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan (51%) and
BAE SystemsBAE Systems plc is a British defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is the world's second-largest defence contractor and the largest in Europe...
(49%). It has 1,761 employees (at March 2007). The airline recently entered partnership with
LufthansaDeutsche Lufthansa AG is the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried, and the flag carrier of Germany. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fifth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried,...
expanding flight offering for the passengers of both airlines.
Destinations
By September 2009, Air Astana served 15 domestic and 17 international destinations. Recently opened routes to
BishkekBishkek , formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan.Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.The name is thought to...
,
BakuBaku , sometimes known as Baqy, Baky, Baki or Bakou, is the capital, the largest city, and the largest port of Azerbaijan and all the Caucasus. Located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, the city consists of two principal parts: the downtown and the old Inner City...
,
NovosibirskNovosibirsk is Russia's third-largest city, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia. It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
and Kuala-Lumpur, improved its regional route network. Service frequencies were also increased to Bangkok, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Moscow.
Codeshare
Air Astana have code share agreements
with the following carriers:
- airBaltic
A/S Air Baltic Corporation, operating as AirBaltic , is the Latvian national airline, based in the capital of Latvia, Riga...
(Riga)
- Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines AG is a subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and the national airline of Austria, headquartered at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Wien-Umgebung. Together with regional subsidiary Tyrolean Airways and charter arm Lauda Air, it operates scheduled services to over 130...
(Vienna)
- KLM (Amsterdam)
Fleet
Air Astana has a modern fleet of
BoeingThe Boeing Company is a major aerospace and defense corporation, founded by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Its international headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois, since 2001...
and
AirbusAirbus
SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Toulouse, France, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners.Airbus began as a consortium of aerospace manufacturers...
planes, reflecting a vested interest among former Soviet nations in preferring Western versus Russian equipment. The Air Astana fleet includes the following aircraft (as of 18 September 2008) :
Air Astana Fleet
| Aircraft |
In
Service |
Orders |
Passengers
(Business*/Economy) |
Notes |
| Airbus A319-100 |
1 |
0 |
126 (12/114) |
|
| Airbus A320-200 |
7 |
6 |
148 (16/132) |
|
| Airbus A321-200 |
2 |
0 |
176 (28/148) |
|
| Boeing 757-200 |
4 |
0 |
170 (20/150) |
Equipped with winglets |
| Boeing 767-300ER |
2 |
0 |
220 (30/190) |
|
| Boeing 787-8 |
0 |
3 |
210-250 |
By 2012 |
| Fokker 50 |
5 |
0 |
50 |
|
| Embraer 190 |
0 |
2 |
114 |
|
| TOTAL |
21 |
8 + 3 |
|
|
Air Astana introduced its first wide-bodied aircraft in 2007. Lease deals had been agreed for two
Boeing 767-300The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twinjet airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the 767 can carry between 181 and 375 passengers, and have a range of 5,200 to 6,590 nautical miles depending on variant and seating configuration. The Boeing 767 has been...
and one
Airbus A330The Airbus A330 is a large-capacity, wide-body, twin-engine, medium-to-long-range commercial passenger airliner. Built at Toulouse in France by Airbus, over 600 units have been delivered....
aircraft, all for delivery during 2007. It introduced four Airbus A320 aircraft and finalised a deal for two Airbus A321 aircraft for December 2006 delivery. Its Boeing 737 and Boeing 757 aircraft will be retired.
According to Air Astana CEO, Peter Foster, at a series of Press calls in Almaty in December 2006, the airline would increase its fleet from 15 to 22 planes in 2007.
The airline is to lease a further two
Airbus A320The Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range commercial passenger airliners are manufactured by Airbus and are the only narrowbody in their product line...
aircraft from
International Lease Finance CorporationThe International Lease Finance Corporation is an aircraft lessor headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It is the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General Electric's GECAS unit, has more aircraft...
(ILFC) for delivery in May and June 2008 on six-year leases.
Air Astana will soon take delivery of its first A319. It has placed an order for six further A320 family aircraft with deliveries due to commence in 2012. By 2022 the airline hopes to have tripled its fleet to over 60 aircraft.
Air Astana made 3 commitments for ordering 3 Boeing 787-800's by 2012.
Previously operated
- 2 Boeing 737-700
The Boeing 737 is a short to medium range, single aisle, narrow body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has nine variants with the -600, -700, -800 and -900 currently in production.Originally envisioned in...
- 1 Boeing 737-800
The Boeing 737 is a short to medium range, single aisle, narrow body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has nine variants with the -600, -700, -800 and -900 currently in production.Originally envisioned in...
The three aircraft above were acquired by
Air BerlinAir Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa. It is headquartered in Berlin, and operates extensive semi-low-cost services to holiday destinations on the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and North Africa, as well as to major cities in Europe from 21...
in December 2006
External links