Air Arabia Extends Network in Kazakhstan

The formidable network growth of United Arab Emirates (UAE) carrier Air Arabia continues with news that the airline will now expand its network in Kazakhstan with the resumption of direct flights between Shrajah and Astana, complementing its existing service to Almaty, the largest city in the former Soviet state.

Air Arabia made its debut in Kazakhstan in February 2006 when it launched services to both Almaty and Astana from its Sharjah International Airport base. The airline offered twice weekly flights to Almaty and a weekly rotation to Astana, but the latter was dropped from its network in June 2009 as it ramped up frequencies to and chose to serve just a single point in the country.

With Almaty now being served on a six times weekly basis (up to daily at certain periods), Air Arabia now feels now is the time to return to Astana and it will introduce a twice weekly service from October 31, 2012. Like the existing Almaty service, Air Arabia plans to use a 162-seat Airbus A320 on its flights to Astana.

“Kazakstan’s emerging economy has seen a lot of positive developments over the past years and we are delighted to complement our existing flight to Almaty by starting new service to the Capital Astana” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia. “The economic links between Kazakhstan and the Middle East are strong and we are confident with this new launch, will enable more people to fly efficiently and affordably between the UAE and Kazakhstan.”

As the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana is both a business and entertainment hub. The city is noted for its modern buildings, many of which have been designed by internationally renowned architects. Astana is already linked to the UAE by Air Astana and Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi and Air Company Scat from Dubai. Air Astana and Etihad also serve Almaty from Abu Dhabi, while Air Company Scat has flights from Dubai.

In 2011 an estimated 207,000 O&D passengers travelled between Kazakhstan and the UAE, up 25.7 per cent on the previous year. In the table below we highlight the largest carriers on the route during last year, ranked by estimated O&D demand.