Air Astana profits

The Kazakhstan national airline Air Astana, 49%-owned by BAE, has resumed its twice-weekly service from Heathrow to the former Soviet Republic’s capital Nur-Sultan.

Flights from Heathrow T2 are on Saturdays and Wednesdays operated by two-class Airbus A321LR aircraft.

The flight arrival into Nur-Sultan (fomerly Astana) offers convenient onward connections to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), plus the country’s commercial capital Almaty.

Kazakhstan recently established a visa-free regime for a number of countries, including the UK. Passengers are required to present a negative Covid-19 test taken 72 hours prior to entering the country or valid vaccination passport.

Last week the airline announced a profit after tax of US$36.1m in 2021. Total airline revenue increased by 92% to US$756m. It carried a total of 6.6m passengers, an increase of 79% and the highest in its history.  Its full-service arm carried 3.5m passengers whilst its low-cost subsidiary FlyArystan moved 3.1m passengers. Freight carriage grew by 27%.

Commenting on the results, President and CEO Peter Foster, stated that the group “recovered from the effects of the global pandemic far quicker than expected. Domestic traffic was strong and FlyArystan, in what is effectively its first full year of operation given that 2020 was partially a write-off, posted very strong growth and a small profit. Regional international yields firmed, and new ‘lifestyle’ routes to tourist destinations exceeded all expectations”.

www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/kazakhstan/entry-requirements

https://airastana.com/kaz/en-US/Information/Air-Astana-Secure/Before-your-flight

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