Qazaq Air to receive two Bombardier Q400NG next spring

Qazaq Air will launch two new destinations from December 1 (Photo by Alexander Gabchenko)

Kazakhstan regional airline Qazaq Air operating the fleet of three Bombardier Q400 NG turboprops, will receive the remaining two aircraft of the type in the spring 2017, Russian Aviation Insider learned.

The delivery of five 76-78 seater aircraft to the carrier had been planned since its launch. The delivery of the first tree aircraft has been managed by Falcon Aviation Services (FAS) from the United Arab Emirates. The airline doesn’t report who will manage the delivery of the additional airframes.

On December 1, the carrier’s existing fleet will be fully loaded due to the opening of two new regular flights between major cities in the west of Kazakhstan. After the introduction of the winter schedule Qazaq Air will commence flights from the country’s oil capital Atyrau to Uralsk, the regional center of West Kazakhstan region. The second route will connect Atyrau with Aktau, the center of Mangistau region. Both directions will be served by one aircraft with two flights per week.

Atyrau-Uralsk and Atyrau-Aktau flights will become the 12th and 13th destinations in the airline’s schedule. The carrier was established to develop internal and interregional transport in Kazakhstan. With the launch of these two routes the residents of Aktau and Uralsk will get access to Qazaq Air flights to Almaty, Aktobe and Shymkent via Atyrau hub.

Qazaq Air is wholly owned by the State National Welfare Samruk-Kazyna Fund. The airline was launched in April 2015. In the first year of operations, through April 2016, it carried more than 62 thousand passengers.

By Alexander Gabchenko