Products and Services

Code Sharing

Code Sharing is an aviation term which denotes an agreement between the two airlines. It refers to a practice where a flight operated by one airline is jointly marketed as a flight for one or more other airlines. The term "code" refers to the identifier used in flight schedule, generally the 2-character IATA airline designator code and flight number. Air Astana’s IATA code is “KC”.

Under a code sharing agreement participating airlines can present a common flight number for several reasons, including:

• Connecting flights - This provides clearer routing for the passenger, allowing a passenger to book and travel from point A to C through point B under one carrier's code, instead of a passenger booking from point A to B under one code, and from point B to C under another code.
• For both airlines to synchronize their flight schedules and coordinate luggage handling, which makes transfers between connecting flights easier.
• Flights from both airlines that fly the same route. This provides an apparent increase in the frequency of service on the route by one airline.
• Perceived service to unserved markets. This provides a method for airlines who do not operate their own aircraft on a given route to gain exposure in the market through display of their flight numbers.

Under a code sharing agreement, the airline that actually operates the flight (the one providing the plane, the crew and the ground handling services) is called the operating carrier. The airline or airlines that sell tickets for that flight but don't actually operate it are called marketing carriers.

Air Astana has code-sharing agreements with the following airlines: