Starting from June 20, Kazakhstan will resume international flights to China, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Turkey. This easing of restrictions is to be done in accordance with the decision of a governmental commission tasked with analyzing the risks and benefits of opening up Kazakhstan’s borders. The decisions are made taking into account the recommendations of the Kazakh Health Care Ministry.
Previously, only flights returning Kazakh citizens from abroad and transporting foreign citizens out of the country as well as humanitarian aid were still in operation. Photo credit: Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development.
The idea of renewing the air routes has been raised by the governmental commission since June 1.
The process will be carried out gradually according to categories of high-risk countries as well as in compliance with the restriction measures implemented in those countries, said Kazakhstan’s Chief Sanitary Doctor for Transport Mr Sadvakas Baibagulov.
The first category countries include China, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Turkey qualified for the second category.
“The number of flights along international routes will be determined based on existing intergovernmental agreements on air traffic and depending on the commercial load of aircraft along each route,” the Kazakh Ministry for Industry and Infrastructure Development said in its press statement.
Complete information regarding the routes and their ticket sales can be accessed on the airlines’ websites.
Starting June 20, Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, will resume flights to Istanbul from Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Atyrau. The airline`s flights to Antalya will restart on June 20 from Almaty and on June 21 from Nur-Sultan, while flights from Almaty to Tbilisi and Batumi will resume on July 1 and July 3, respectively.
SCAT Airlines will renew its flights from Shymkent and Aktau to Istanbul on July 1.
Precautions, including wearing masks and usage of hand sanitizers, however, must be strictly observed. These requirements will also remain in place for arriving passengers in Kazakhstan.
All passengers from the countries of the first and second categories will have to fill out medical forms while being on board and pass a temperature check upon their arrival.
There will be no restrictions for passengers arriving from first category countries.
For passengers arriving from Turkey, however, “no restrictions” (mode) will apply if they provide a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test result showing they tested negative for COVID-19 recently, and the confirmation has to be not older than five days at their entry to Kazakhstan.
Otherwise, passengers arriving from Turkey are required to pass the test within 48 hours from their arrival. Failure to follow the requirement would lead to administrative responsibility.
The Kazakh Ministry for Health Care records all passengers arriving from the countries of the first and second categories as a preventive measure for identification of potential contacts in case any of the passengers is found to test positive for COVID-19.
