OREANDA-NEWS.  September 26, 2012. Air Astana, the Kazakh national carrier, marks 10 years of successful operation in the Russian market this month. In September 2002, Air Astana launched services to Moscow, with three weekly flights from Astana and seven weekly flights from Almaty using Boeing 737-700 aircraft, reported the press-centre of Air Astana.

Today, Air Astana operates a total of 42 flights per week on nine routes between the two countries using Airbus A320 on Almaty – Moscow, Astana – Moscow, Almaty – Saint-Petersburg and Embraer E190 on Astana – Novosibirsk, Astana – Yekaterinburg, Astana – Omsk, Astana – Saint-Petersburg, Almaty – Kazan and Almaty – Samara. The last three of these routes were launched earlier this year. The total number of weekly services will grow to over 50 flights per week by the end of 2012.

Over the past decade, 1.35 million passengers and 11,000 tons of cargo have been carried on the Almaty – Moscow – Almaty route, whilst 450,000 passengers and 2,000 tons of cargo have been carried on the Astana – Moscow – Astana route.

“I’m delighted to celebrate a decade of successful operation to Russia, which has been a strategic market since Air Astana launched its flights in 2002. Flights to Moscow were amongst the first to be operated, with Air Astana’s network of services to Russian cities growing dramatically over the past 10 years but particularly in the last 2 years”, said Dmitriy Kaparulin, Regional General Manager Russia & CIS, Air Astana. “Passengers choosing to fly with Air Astana to Russia can enjoy very high standards of service, which recently received a 4-star rating from Skytrax – the only one in the CIS and Eastern Europe”.

Air Astana provides convenient onward connections from its Russian services to destinations in Central Asia and Asia, including Seoul, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Delhi, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and soon Ho Chi Minh City.