Air Astana to Add Links to Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh
Kazakhstan carrier Air Astana is to boost its position in the Asian market by increasing frequencies on some of its existing routes and launching flights to additional destinations. The airline, a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna JSC National Welfare Fund (51 per cent) and British company BAE Systems (49 per cent), will expand its fleet to facilitate this network expansion, with the first stage being the arrival of a fifth Boeing 757-200 next month.
This aircraft will be used to boost flights on some of its existing routes from Almaty from December, with additional rotations to three major cities, increasing weekly services to Bangkok to five, Delhi to four and Kuala Lumpur to three.
Further fleet expansion during 2012 will support network growth. A new twice weekly flight to Hong Kong is due to be launched in February 2012, while a seasonal weekly charter link to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is planned from October next year. The Hong Kong route was initially planned for a November 2011 start but was delayed due to some legal issues.
“Expanding political, business and tourism links between Kazakhstan and Asia continue to drive strong traffic growth on services to the region, with increased feed from Central Asia into the expanding Almaty hub also making a significant contribution,” explained Peter Foster, President, Air Astana. “Immediate frequency increases on existing services and the launch of new services to Hong Kong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City in 2012, reflect the fact that Asia is playing an increasingly important part in the strategic long-term development of Air Astana.”
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