Air Astana relaunches direct service to Kyiv
Kazakhstan’s national carrier Air Astana has announced plans to resume services between the country’s capital city Astana and Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Five-weekly direct flights will be operated with Airbus A320s and Embraer 190s.
Air Astana first launched the route between its base airport and Kyiv in 2013, but suspended the service in July 2014 in the aftermath of the shooting-down of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flight over southern Ukraine.
By relaunching the service the Kazakh carrier hopes to win back transit traffic to feed its Asian routes to Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, and Urumqi, as well as flights to destinations in Russia’s Far East of Russia (such as Novosibirsk, Omsk, and Yekaterinburg) and across its domestic network. The carrier’s overall network from its hubs in Astana and Almaty exceeds over 60 routes.
The decision comes in time for the June 10 opening of EXPO 2017 in Astana; the airline is offering free tickets for the show to all of its passengers traveling internationally.
“With the opening of EXPO 2017 Astana, and [now that] government, business, cultural, and tourism links between Kazakhstan and Ukraine are once again growing strongly, Air Astana is delighted to relaunch services between the two capital cities,” commented Peter Foster, Air Astana president and CEO.
The Ukrainian designated carrier on the route, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), does not currently offer direct flights between the two cities. UIA flies from Kyiv’s Boryspil airport to Almaty.
Air Astana’s fleet consists of Boeing 767s and 757s, Airbus A319s, A320s, A320neos, A321s, and Embraer 190s.
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