ALMATY - Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, recorded its 10 millionth passenger in early September, reflecting continuing growth at the airline, where passenger numbers have grown from 165,000 during the launch year in 2002 to 2.3 million in 2008.

In addition to international services to major cities Europe and Asia, Air Astana is expanding its Central Asia network with new services to cities in southern Russia and other neighbouring countries.

The airline recently launched services from Astana to Novosibirsk, Russia; Almaty to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan; Almaty to Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan and Almaty to Urumqi in western China.

Peter Foster, president of Air Astana, said, “The airline continues to perform strongly despite the clear challenges facing the air transport industry today and has a very exciting future ahead.”

Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan (51%) and BAE Systems (49%).

The airline launched regular flight operations in May 2002 and currently operates a network that serves 22 domestic and 22 international destinations from its hubs in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau.

The operational fleet currently comprises of two Boeing 767s, four Boeing 757s, two Airbus A321s, seven A320s, one A319 and five Fokker 50s.