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Publish Date : 18-Nov-2014

Air Astana needs to tap into connections through Dubai as Kazakhstan expands its economy into tourism and trade, and away from oil. Peter Foster, the president of Air Astana said, “There are a lot of tourists to Dubai and real estate investment in Dubai from Kazakhstan, and we are looking to attract a lot more tourists from Dubai”. The Kazakh airline in September started again daily direct flights to the emirate from Almaty after a four-year hiatus. The route picks up 20 % of its traffic from connecting flights. That is higher than its worldwide average of approximately 13 per cent traffic from connecting flights.

Almaty, in the country’s south, is the hub of Kazakh commerce. Astana, in the north, has been the capital from 1997. Air Astana is estbalished in Almaty. The airline operates an Astana-Abu Dhabi service four times a week and has a codesharing partnership with Etihad. It was in addition considering a flight between the city and Dubai. Mr Foster said, “We could possibly look into starting a Dubai-Astana flight and if we do so, it will come before the expo in Astana in 2017”.

Air Astana runs to 18 countries. In 2002, Air Astana made Dubai its first international destination, however the service stopped in 2010 after Dubai’s civil aviation authorities imposed restrictions on the number of carriers allowed to fly between the countries. In 2009, the European Commission had blacklisted all Kazakh airlines and imposed frequency restrictions on Air Astana after the national civil aviation authority failed the European compliance test. The limitations on Air Astana were lifted in April.

Mr Foster said, “We are fully compliant with the international safety standards”. “But we always have to explain to people that we are a safe airline, and there is a perception problem that we constantly have to address.” With the limits lifted, a deal was reached under which flydubai was permitted to fly to Kazakhstan and Air Astana started again flights from Almaty to Dubai International Airport. Etihad Airways and Air Arabia in addition fly between the UAE and Kazakhstan. Hamad Buamim, the president and chief executive of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Kazakhstan’s attractions for business include its natural resources.

Previous year non-oil trade between Dubai and Kazakhstan was valued at Dh862 million, making the country Dubai’s 98th biggest trade partner. Air Astana in the peak holiday season of December and January, intends to operate bigger planes between Almaty and Dubai. He said that the Dubai route had a passenger load factor of 75 per cent, while the figure for the Abu Dhabi route was in the mid-60s.

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