NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — The civil aviation industry of Kazakhstan must compete with international carriers and develop its transit potential, Deputy Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan Aibek Alzhanov said in an interview with PrimeMinister.kz. He spoke about how civil aviation is developing today and what measures will be taken in the near future.
Alzhanov said that Kazakhstan’s civil aviation has seen a steady increase in all indicators. There was an increase of about 24% in terms of passengers carried. For instance, in 2015 the figure was 12 million passengers, last year the country’s airports served about 15 million passengers. For 8 months of 2019, 11.8 million passengers were transported, which is higher than the figures for the same period last year.
Over the past few years, the aviation authorities of Kazakhstan have negotiated with more than 30 countries on the creation and expansion of the regulatory framework, as well as on the resumption and opening of flights, including in priority areas, Alzhanov said.
This year, letters were sent to a number of foreign airlines, with a proposal to consider the possibility of opening direct flights. Such letters were sent to American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines (United States of America), Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong), Alitalia (Italy), Iberia (Spain), and KLM (Netherlands).
This year, seven new flights were opened: Nur-Sultan – Prague, Nur-Sultan – Ulan-Bator, Almaty – Baku. Flights began from the airports of Karaganda, Petropavlovsk, and Kokshetau to Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport. In addition, the first national low-cost airline FlyArystan was launched, which currently operates about six routes. Until the end of 2019, there will be an increase in routes in many directions. By 2023, the airline should receive about 10 aircraft and expects to open routes in 55 directions both in Kazakhstan and abroad, Alzhanov said.
