Air Astana Celebrates 21st Anniversary; Targets 8.5 Million Passengers in 2023

(19/05/23)  Air Astana celebrates its 21st anniversary this month.

The carrier has grown dramatically since the first service was operated between Almaty and Astana in 2002 and has steadily built a reputation for quality customer service, operational efficiency and consistent profitably.

This long-term record of success culminated with 2022 being the airline’s best-ever year, with the group reporting profit after tax of US$78.4 million, on revenues of US$1.03 billion.

For the full year 2022, Air Astana and FlyArystan, the group's LCC, jointly carried 7.35 million passengers and currently serve over 90 destinations in Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, China, Germany, Greece, India, Korea, Montenegro, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey, UAE and the United Kingdom, with a fleet of 43 Airbus, Boeing and Embraer aircraft.

Launched in May 2019, FlyArystan carried more than 3.2 million passengers to domestic and International destinations in 2022.

Two beautiful Air Astana employees posing for the camera. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

“Air Astana’s 21st Anniversary gives true cause for celebration, with the successful strategies and innovative solutions of the past now providing a firm foundation for an exciting new era of sustainable growth in the future,” said Peter Foster OBE, President and CEO of Air Astana. “My sincere thanks go out to every one of our 6,000 dedicated staff and the millions of customers who have enabled Air Astana to overcome every challenge in recent years to reach this remarkable achievement in 2023.”

Since the beginning of 2022, the group has received eight new aircraft, with seven more aircraft scheduled for delivery by the end of 2023 and there are additional contracts for the delivery of another 13 aircraft from 2024 to 2026.

In addition to expanding the Airbus A320neo / A321LR fleet in service, the airline will take delivery of the first of three Boeing 787s beginning from 2025.

These new widebody aircraft will enable the airline to launch services to a number of long-range destinations, including those in North America.

More immediately, Air Astana will launch new services to Tel Aviv in Israel and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia later this year and continue to boost frequencies on existing routes.

In line with its fleet and network development plans, the group's passenger traffic is forecast to grow to 8.5 million in 2023.

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