ASTANA – Kazakh and foreign airlines are planning to launch new international flights to and from Kazakhstan this year.
Photo credit: kazpravda.kz.
Regular flights will be opened from Astana to Tyumen, Krasnodar, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk and Sochi in Russia as well as Vilnius, Milan, Batumi and Dushanbe.
Foreign airlines, including Air Baltic, Emirates, Fly Dubai, Aeroflot and Angara, will launch Riga-Almaty, Dubai-Almaty, Dubai-Aktau, Moscow-Kyzylorda and Krasnoyarsk-Almaty flights. Finn Air plans to resume its Astana-Helsinki route.
The expansion of international routes continues as last year Kazakhstan saw the launch of 10 international flights to Xian, Kiev, Mineralnye Vody, Yerevan, Deli and Warsaw, Budapest, Helsinki, Beijing and Batumi operated by Finn Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Wizz Air and Air China.
Along with the expansion, the frequency of 11 international flights is also increased. The destinations include Bishkek, Istanbul, Beijing, London, Seoul, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, St. Petersburg, Tashkent and Tbilisi.
At the same time, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines recently announced it would suspend its Amsterdam – Astana/Almaty circle route for the summer from April to October despite an earlier announcement about the airline’s switch to a seasonal programme. The airline cited economic reasons and optimisation of routes as key reasons behind the decision.
KLM and Air France, however, will still service Kazakhstan due to their code sharing agreement with Kazakhstan’s national flag carrier Air Astana on the Astana-Paris route.
