ASTANA (TCA) — Today Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Investments and Development faces an important task of developing sustainable air flights between the country’s regions and developing domestic tourism, Minister of Investments and Development Zhenis Kassymbek said at a press conference following the meeting of the Government on January 23, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The minister said that during the last 25 years, much attention has been paid to large-scale (long-range) aviation. At the same time, the ministry is also taking measures to develop small-scale (short- and medium-range) aviation.
“Over the past two years, we have adopted several special programs for small aviation and are planning to begin their implementation,” said Kassymbek.
It is also planned to build 16 local airfields. In 2017, work has already begun in this direction: airports have been opened in small towns, such as Urdzhar and Usharal.
Kassymbek also informed that together with Almaty administration, work is underway to create a new small air carrier on the basis of the Zhetysu airline. In the future, 20 small-size aircrafts will be purchased for this airline.
Answering questions about new international routes, Minister Kassymbek said that since the beginning of 2017, foreign and Kazakhstan airlines have opened 10 new international air routes from Astana to Delhi, Warsaw, Helsinki, Budapest, Beijing, Yerevan, Kiev, Batumi (Georgia), Mineralnye Vody (Russia), and Xian (China).
In 2018, Kazakhstan airlines are planning to open flights from Astana to Vilnius (Lithuania), Tyumen, Krasnodar, Tomsk, Chelyabinsk, and Sochi (Russia), and Dushanbe (Tajikistan). International airlines (Air Baltic, Emirates, Fly Dubai, Angara, and Aeroflot) are planning to open flights Riga-Almaty, Dubai-Almaty, Dubai-Aktau, Krasnoyarsk-Almaty, and Moscow–Kyzylorda.
