History
Air Astana was incorporated in late 2001 and operated its maiden flight on 15 May 2002, a Boeing 737 service from Almaty to Kazakhstan’s national capital, Astana. The inaugural was attended by President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Sir Richard Evans, representing the two shareholders, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and BAE Systems PLC of the UK.
The shareholders have remained partners throughout the airline’s history, with the government’s 51% held by Samruk-Kazyna JSC and with BAE Systems retaining 49%.
The airline’s mission has also remained constant, to provide quality domestic and international air services to the highest standards of safety and service using modern generation aircraft in order to serve and compliment the needs of Kazakhstan, one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Air Astana is the only airline in Kazakhstan to maintain its fleet to audited EU EASA 145 standards. In 2008 Air Astana was admitted to the register of the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), one of a small number of airlines in the Commonwealth of Independent States to have achieved this.
Today the airline operates a fleet of 21 western aircraft with an average age of 5 years, over more than 50 domestic and international routes. Its 2.3 million passengers are served by a staff of over 2000 highly-trained men and women, the majority of whom are from Kazakhstan, supplemented by experienced foreign personnel. Since autumn 2005 the Air Astana team has been headed by Peter Foster, an airline executive with more than 25 years’ experience, who reports to an international Board of Directors.
Air Astana recently placed an order for new Airbus 320 family and Boeing 787 aircraft to grow its fleet to 34 aircraft by 2014, and to 63 aircraft by 2022. The airline is now recognized as a clear leader in the CIS region, as it continues to compliment its modern fleet with a large number of technical and service innovations designed to ensure that air travel to, from and within Kazakhstan is as reliable and convenient as possible.
