Air Astana

The Air Astana Management Team

Peter Foster – President of Air Astana

Peter Foster entered the airline industry immediately after graduating from Cambridge University in 1982, as a management trainee of John Swire and Sons (HK) Ltd, the owners of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. From 1982-1999 he served in a variety of management and senior management positions with CPA in Hong Kong, Asia, Australia and Europe, and underwent business management training at INSEAD, France.
Mr. Foster left Cathay Pacific Airways in 1999 to head up the rehabilitation team of Philippine Airlines Inc. He subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer of Royal Brunei Airlines from 2002 to 2005 prior to his appointment as President of Air Astana.

Alma Aliguzhinova – Senior Vice President Planning and Commercial

Alma is among the first employees to join Air Astana at its early stage of formation in 2001 before the commencement of commercial operations.
Alma initially joined the company as Corporate Development Manager and progressively has been promoted to Corporate Development Director and then Vice President Planning and now Senior Vice President Planning and Commercial.
Alma is a Bolashak Alumni graduated with an MBA degree from East Caroline University, USA.

Yerbol Ospanov – Senior Vice President Government, Regulatory Affairs and Security

Yerbol has over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry.

He has had various jobs in different airlines in Kazakhstan. In his early career he worked as a co-pilot, but then advanced and has worked for various firms as a pilot instructor of many different types of aircraft including the Tu-154, Boeing 747, Boeing 757 and Boeing 767.
As well as his position as Senior Vice President in Air Astana, Yerbol serves as a Captain to the Head of the State flights, a position which he has held for many years.

Ibrahim Canliel – Senior Vice President Marketing and Sales

Ibrahim has been with Air Astana since 2003 and prior to that he has worked 9 years in tourism with major tour operators in Turkey from where he moved to aviation with KLM; shortly in the Middle East and thereafter Almaty in charge of the Commercial Organization in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.Ibrahim received his MBA degree from Bosphorus University (Istanbul) and his undergraduate in Economics from Marmara University. From November 2005 Ibrahim was also a Board Member of the European Business Association of Kazakhstan and left this duty in Nov 2008.

Gerhard Coetzee – Senior Vice President Corporate Safety and Quality Assurance

Gerhard started his career as an Air Force navigator and is a qualified Accident Investigator with qualifications in (Aviation) Safety Programme management from various institutions including University of Southern California. He holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce and an Honours degree in Transport Economics from University of South Africa. He has been actively involved in flight safety for the past 15 years including as Staff Officer Flight Safety in the South-African Air Force and Managing Consultant with BAE Systems.

John Wainwright – Senior Vice President Engineering Group

John has over 34 years of aircraft maintenance experience, both in Base and Line maintenance. He was educated in the United Kingdom and trained at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford. After spending almost 20 years working for Britannia Airways, he moved to South East Asia, working for Royal Brunei Airlines in Brunei, Vietnam and Nepal. When he left Brunei to immigrate to Australia, he held the position of Head of Maintenance. John joined Air Astana in 2006 as the Maintenance Manager. He is a holder of an EASA B1 and C category Maintenance Engineers License and is married with three children.

Anthony Regan – Senior Vice President Operations

Anthony has over 36 years experience in aviation. He was Head of Flight Operations and OPS post holder at Air France/KLM subsidiary Cityjet from 2001 to 2012 where he was responsible for all aspects of Flight and Cabin operations. Prior to that he was a Director at Parc Aviation. His early career was as a pilot with the Irish Air Corps where he held a number of operational appointments including Chief Flying Instructor retiring with the rank of Commandant. He holds a current JAA and FAA Air Transport Pilot Licence. He is a graduate of University College Dublin in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics.

Mergali Alzhanov – Vice President Flight Operations

Mergali has extensive experience in the aviation industry. Educated in Aktobe top civil aviation flight school in 1980, Mergali began his career as a co-pilot on the Yak-40 in the Kokchetav aviation squadron, and in 1991 transferred to the Almaty squadron. After working at several airlines, Mergali joined Air Astana in 2004 as captain on the Boeing 757 aircraft. He is married with two daughters and a son.

Bella Tormysheva – Vice President Public Relations

Bella has over 10 years of experience in Public Relations, Information and Culture areas. Before joining Air Astana, she worked for the Delegation of the European Commission covering the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan. She holds a Master's Degree in International Relations. Bella has attended numerous trainings abroad.

Yevgeniya Nee – Vice President HR and Administration

Yevgeniya is a graduate of Karaganda State University and holds Diplomas in English/French languages and Legal.
She joined Air Astana in October 2002 as Executive Assistant to President of Air Astana. Prior to Air Astana, Yevgeniya worked for four years with Intercontinental Hotel.

Aidar Kashkarbayev – Vice President Legal Affairs

Aidar has over 10 years of experience in jurisprudence. He started practicing law in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1993. Prior to joining Air Astana, Aidar has worked for Denton Wilde Sapte law firm and KPMG. He also worked as a manager of the legal department at Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V. based in Karachaganak oilfield, Western Kazakhstan. Aidar graduated from Kazakh National University and experienced study placement at Southern Illinois University, USA, under the Visiting scholar programme.

Valentina Khegay – Vice President Internal Audit

Valentina_Khegay
Valentina joined Air Astana in 2006 having more than 20 years of experience in audit and accounting. Valentina graduated from National Institute of Economics in Almaty and holds a PhD degree in Economics. After graduating, she worked in accounting field as Chief Accountant and Chief Financial Officer. In 1996 she started practicing audit. Prior to Air Astana she worked at KPMG. Since 2002 she is a certified auditor and a full member of Chamber of auditors of Republic of Kazakhstan. She also holds professional accountant certificates for CAP and CIPA.

Chamindra Lenawa – Vice President IT and e-Business

Chamindra is an IT professional having management experience in three National Carriers and initially joined Air Astana as Manager IT Business Systems. Then he held the position of Director IT and eCommerce.
Chamindra holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. Further, he is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional, PMI - USA) and a Chartered Information Technology Professional of British Computer Society. Chamindra holds certifications in different IT domains and is a professional in airline reservations, ticketing, departure control systems and business operations.

Aiman Tileubayeva – Vice President Network and Revenue Management

Aiman joined Air Astana in November 2003 as the Commercial Planning Manager, where she was responsible for the schedule and network planning. Prior to joining Air Astana, Aiman worked in Air Kazakhstan airline for five years. Aiman graduated from the Kazakh National University has PhD in Applied Mathematics.
Aiman was appointed Air Astana’s Director Network and Revenue Management in February 2009.

Galina Umarova – Vice President Fuel Management

Galina has experience in the airline industry and prior to joining Air Astana was Director on Finance at Astana International Airport JSC. Galina graduated from Aktobe State University after K. Zhubanov and she holds a Master Degree in Public Administration from KIMEP, Almaty.

Dilyara Kunkhozhayeva – Vice President Procurement

Dilyara joined the airline in early 2006 as Financial Analyst. She holds a Bachelor and a Master degree in Business Administration and Accounting from KIMEP (Almaty) with major in management and finance. After graduation she worked at Ernst & Young and KIMEP in Almaty. Since 2008 Dilyara has held the position of Head of Management Accounts. She was appointed as Director Procurement of Air Astana in June 2012.

Richard Ledger – Director Sales Worldwide

Richard joined Air Astana in June 2006 as the Regional General Manager EU, USA & Canada, based in London, where he was primarily responsible for the creation of a sales network throughout the region. Prior to joining Air Astana, Richard worked in corporate sales for Singapore Airlines in London for five years before becoming Sales & Marketing Manager UK at Royal Brunei Airlines in Jan 2005. Richard started his travel industry career in 1993 after graduating from Lancaster University with a MA in Travel and Tourism, and from the University of London (UCL) with a BA (hons) in Geography. His first positions in travel industry were as Tour Operations Manager for a tour operator specializing in packages to Thailand and India, before progressing to Wexas International as a ‘Round the World’ specialist. Richard is married with three children and was appointed Air Astana’s Director Sales Worldwide in February 2009.

Marat Sekerbekov – Director Flight Operations Support

Marat has been in aviation industry for more than 30 years with various Kazakhstani and international airlines. His aviation career started after graduating from Kirovograd Flight Academy of National Aviation University of Ukraine. Marat started his way with Aeroflot, USSR. In 1994 he came to Kazakhstani airline industry.

In 2005, Marat joined Air Astana as a co-pilot of Fokker 50 fleet and passed all levels of flight operations management team from co-pilot to chief pilot.

Paolo Ricciotti – Director Ground Services

Paolo has well in excess of 35 years of experience in the aviation industry from both the perspectives of Airlines and Airports. He was General Manager Airports when he left Cathay Pacific Airways in August 2000 to join SEA Milan Airports to manage both Linate and Malpensa airports first and the Commercial Activities of SEA Handling later. At Cathay Pacific Airways he held several management and senior management positions in Europe, Asia and Hong Kong, to include, System Reservation Manager, Manager On Time Performance, Manager Kai Tak Airport (the glorious old Hong Kong Airport). Relevant experience in Cargo Services was also acquired over the years. Paolo holds a Diploma of V. Engineer in telecommunications and underwent business management training in both INSEAD and Ashridge Business Schools.

Grigoriy Zyryanov – Director Commercial Engineering

Grigoriy entered the airline industry immediately after graduating from Civil Aviation Academy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 2001, as a Senior Engineer-Technologist in Aircraft Repair Plant #405. He subsequently served as Deputy Chief of Production Planning and Control Department of Air Kazakhstan prior to his appointment as Maintenance Program Engineer in Maintenance Planning Department of Air Astana in 2004. Further, he was promoted to Maintenance Planning Manager. In 2010, Grigoriy was responsible for launching Base Maintenance Team in Air Astana and getting certifications of workshops by EASA, which was achieved in April 2011. He was appointed Director Commercial Engineering in April 2012 moving to Commercial Engineering Department to deal with technical aspects of fleet management.

Azamat Ospanov – Director Engineering Finance

Azamat obtained his educational background in economy, accounting and audit in Suleyman Demirel University. He started his professional career with Ernst and Young and has become an experienced audit manager with KPMG. Azamat joined Air Astana in April 2009 as finance manager specialising in areas of accounting and finance processes. Being senior manager finance he was head of airline specific revenue accounting and was responsible for banking and treasury functions. In January 2013 he was appointed as Director to finance department within Engineering and Maintenance group.

Timur Yakupov – Director National Development

Timur is an aeronautical engineer with more than 20 years of experience. Having a classic aviation education in former Soviet Union, Timur began his career as a mechanic for aerobatic aircraft. He served in the army as an infantry weapons specialist in Military Transport Aviation. He continued his career in Kazakhstan in the role of a technician on TU-154, and further mastered the maintenance of the main types of passenger and cargo aircraft of the former Soviet Union. Timur works at Air Astana from the very first day, and started as a Shift Supervisor. Timur is a holder of an engineering license and can serve more than 11 types of aircraft and their modifications. He is married with three daughters.

Russel Ellis – Director Operations Control

Russel has more than 26 years of aviation experience and has held several senior management positions in airlines in South Africa and the Middle East before joining Air Astana in 2007. His early experience was in the military where he qualified as a Navigator and Instructor. He is responsible for the day-to-day operational control of the airline and the emergency response readiness.

Alima Zamanbekova – Chief Accountant

Alima joined the airline in mid 2003 as Chief Accountant. Prior to joining Air Astana, she held positions of Chief Accountant in the oil industry.
Alima graduated from the Institute of Foreign Languages (English faculty) and from Kazakh State Academy of Management, specializing in Accounting and Audit. She is a Certified Accountant and a member of the Chamber of Professional Accountants. Alima is married and has two children.

The Air Astana Management Team