Air Astana posted a 10 per cent increase in passenger traffic and a 17 per cent uptick in revenues in the first half of the year compared with the same six months in 2017.
Between January and June 2018, the Kazakhstan airline carried more than two million passengers and traffic was driven by the strong performance on international passenger traffic that is up 22 per cent compared to the same period in 2017.
International transit traffic in the first half of 2018 grew by 75 per cent to 320,000 passengers on a strong base of 2017. The share of transit passengers reached 30 per cent of Air Astana’s international traffic, up from 21 per cent for the same period last year.
Capacity was bolstered eight per cent as a result of the introduction of new flights from Astana to Tyumen and Kazan, as well as additional frequencies from Astana to London Heathrow (now daily), Omsk, Dubai, Delhi, and from Almaty to Dushanbe, Baku, Hong Kong, Seoul and Bishkek.
Additional services were added to Beijing, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev from both hubs. In addition, on 26 March, the airline launched new Atyrau-Frankfurt-Atyrau services.
In March, Air Astana concluded a codeshare agreement with Cathay Pacific and is also continuing with its fleet renewal program. It welcomed three new Airbus A321neo aircraft into its fleet as part of a total order for 17 aircraft.
In spring the airline commissioned its Aviation and Technical Center at Astana Airport, which now provides maintenance support to Air Astana’s fleet and intends to provide services for third party airlines flying to Kazakhstan.
President and chief executive officer, Peter Foster said: “Passenger numbers continue to be strong for international traffic and network business. Domestic and regional routes face tough pricing and cost headwinds.”
