About Air Astana

Air Astana to increase its number of routes to Turkey

Today Air Astana began service between Atyrau–Istanbul–Atyrau, connecting the oil center of Kazakhstan with the commercial heart of Turkey.

The aircraft used on this route is a Boeing 757-200 configured with 12 business class and 188 economy class seats. It is anticipated that the volume of passenger traffic on this route will total 35,000 passengers per year.

Air Astana has a close co-operation with Atlasjet whereby the two carriers offer joint fares on the domestic network of Atlasjet.

In addition to the introduction of the new route, Air Astana is also increasing the frequency of flights on its existing route between Almaty and Istanbul from 3 per week to 4 per week.

The minimum fare for the Atyrau-Istanbul-Atyrau route is 402 Euro for economy class and 982 Euro for a business class ticket. Air Astana is offering a special fare offer for passengers on the first 3 flights from Atyrau. From June18th till 23rd, a roundtrip ticket will cost 49,000 tenge. And for 59,000 tenge, passengers on Air Astana can continue from Istanbul to any of 18 other cities in Turkey via an interline agreement between Air Astana and Atlasjet, a Turkish airline.

Ibrahim Canliel, Marketing and Sales director of Air Astana, said:

“Air Astana JCS is glad to exercise its commitment towards improving the network and frequency of routes offered between Kazakhstan and Turkey. The close relation between the two countries will further grow with strong transportation links joining Istanbul with Almaty, Kazakhstan’s commercial center and Atyrau, its “oil capital.” We offer comfortable, reliable flights with western equipment and have a focus on safety and quality customer service.”

Air Astana, jointly owned by the Government of Kazakhstan and BAE Systems, has been a JAR-145 certified IATA member carrier since 2003.

The route network of the airline includes 25 domestic and 18 international routes ranging from Seoul in the East to London Heathrow in the West and it carried 1.2 million passengers in 2005. The airline is aiming for 1.4 million passengers in 2006 and 2.3 million in 2007

Air Astana operates a fleet of 737 NGs, 757-200s, F50’s and an A320. Its fleet currently consists of 14 aircraft and will reach 17 by the end 2006. The airline has sent out a Request for Proposal to aircraft manufacturers for purchase of aircraft starting with the delivery of three wide body aircraft in 2008.

The Strategic plan of the company foresees a fleet of 34 aircraft by 2014