Page 21 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2018 Online Magazine

The cabin features larger over- withdraw because of a paucity of expect this to accelerate as the
head-bin capacity and a new slots. Having completed 13 years economy continues to diversify.
mood-lighting system with LED of service in India, Air Astana plans However international passen-
technology.
to increase its three-times-weekly ger growth is most encouraging,
Other New Aircraft service between Astana and New particularly network business.
oster explains that the Delhi to a daily flight, followed by Astana EXPO 2017, further easing
company plans to take service to Mumbai in 2019. of visa restrictions, the new ter-
delivery of three Boeing 787 However, securing slots at the minal at Nursultan Nazarbayev
FDreamliners in the early part two capacity constrained airports International Airport at Astana,
of the next decade. Last year, Air presents a major challenge, says and continued positive develop-
Astana signed a long-term lease Foster. “Slots have started to fea- ments within the airline are all
agreement with AerCap for five ture on several airlines’ balance combining to set up strong traffic
Embraer E190-E2s, which will com-
mence delivery to the airline during sheets as assets. While they are recovery,” Foster opines.
the final quarter of 2018. “The not a tradeable commodity, they “Cost pressure, driven by higher
acquisition of the E2 is the logical are becoming so.” fuel prices in Kazakhstan, has
replacement of the E190, which we The airline’s cost per available increased. However, the airline’s
have been successfully operating seat kilometer remains below unit cost remains very competi-
since 2011. The E190 has enabled five cents, making it one of the tive and enables us to increase
us to open up smaller markets in
southern Russia, the Caucasus, world’s lowest cost full-service our share of long-haul major
and Central Asia including smaller airlines. The Kazakh flag carrier market business. This is helped
domestic routes. These fuel-effi- is now looking to ramp up its by increased awareness in foreign
cient aircraft, when combined with overall traffic to 9 million passen- markets of the quality of our prod-
the Airbus 320neo family aircraft of gers within the next 10 years. In uct. We have yet again won the
which we continue to take delivery, the first half of 2017, the airline Skytrax Award for ‘Best Airline,
will drive continued improvements
in efficiency and product quality.” carried 1,894,391 passengers of Central Asia and India’,”
As domestic and regional compe- which 1,007,413 were domestic Foster adds.
tition grows, we estimate the E2 passengers and 886,978 were Air Astana became the first carrier
will deliver up to 15 per cent seat international passengers. Overall from Russia, the Commonwealth
cost savings, which will enable us Passenger traffic increased by 12 of Independent States (the
to increase capacity and market per cent for the period. While pas- CIS) and Eastern Europe to be
share on these routes and maintain
our position as the region’s leading senger growth on domestic routes awarded the prestigious 4-Star
airline. We are delighted to have was a relatively modest four per rating by Skytrax at its World
concluded the lease agreements cent, international traffic grew Airline Awards 2012 and was also
with AerCap, with whom we have by 22 per cent, driven to a large named ‘The Best Airline in Central
been working closely for many extent by network traffic transit- Asia and India’ that year. Both
years,” Foster says.
ing through its Astana and Almaty achievements were repeated in

Expansion Plans hubs, which grew by 62 per cent. 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Cargo uplift increased by 22 per “During these past few years, we
Plans for expansion to Asia Pacific cent for the same period. have managed to create a very
include more flights to Bangkok, good product that is appreciated
Seoul, Chengdu, and Xian by Advantageous Location by our clients,” says Foster. He
2020 and to Hong Kong in 2018. Located at the crossroads of confirms that the airline, 49 per
Foster expects to sign a code- Asia and Europe, Kazakhstan cent owned by BAE Systems and
share with Cathay Pacific soon. stands geographically well posi- 51 per cent by Kazakh sovereign
“We are exploring the possibility tioned to attract transit traffic, wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, will
to fly to New York…If we decide which accounts for a growing release its planned initial public
to, we will be using the new 787,” proportion of Air Astana’s reve- offering at the stock exchanges
he says. The airline had planned nues. “Kazakhstan’s economy is of Astana and London in October
to add two more frequencies to delivering modest growth after 2018.
Beijing, but had to
two very difficult years, and we

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