Air Astana is expanding its network in the Middle East with the first nonstop connection between Kazakhstan and Israel.

Flights from Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport will start on Sept. 7, operating twice a week using Airbus A321LR aircraft. The duration of the service will be 6 hr. 45 min. outbound, and 5 hr. 50 min. inbound to Almaty.

Tel Aviv will become the third city in the Middle East region to be served by Air Astana, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows.

The airline currently flies to Dubai International Airport daily from Almaty and 6X-weekly from Astana. A weekly service is also offered to Doha, Qatar, from both Almaty and Astana.

Tel Aviv is one of two new Middle Eastern destinations Air Astana intends to launch this year, along with flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The network expansion comes as the carrier celebrates its 21st anniversary and follows its best year in 2022.

The airline reported an after-tax profit of $78.4 million last year on revenues of $1.03 billion. A total of 7.35 million passengers were carried by Air Astana and low-cost-carrier subsidiary FlyArystan, and the group expects to fly 8.5 million passengers this year.

Since the beginning of 2022, the company has received eight new aircraft, with seven more scheduled for delivery by the end of 2023. There are additional contracts for the delivery of another 13 aircraft from 2024-26.

In addition to expanding the A320neo and A321LR fleets in service, Air Astana will take delivery of the first of three Boeing 787s starting in 2025. These new widebody aircraft will enable the airline to launch services to a number of long-range destinations, including North America.

Alongside the planned Tel Aviv launch, Air Astana has this month resumed 3X-weekly flights from Astana to Tbilisi International Airport, Georgia. The route was last served in October 2022.