Air Astana cutting international capacity on four routes
Kazakhstan carrier Air Astana will scale back international flights in the coming weeks.
It follows a request by the health ministry to help contain the spread of Covid-19.
It will see a decrease in the number of flights to Istanbul, Dubai, Kiev and Frankfurt.
Frankfurt service will be cut from six to four a week, while Dubai flights will now operate eight times a week, down from 12.
Kiev will now see only one weekly flight, which is down from three.
The Istanbul route will see a decrease from 16 to 12 weekly flights.
"We appreciate and understand reasons for and efforts to suppress the spread of the virus. At the same time, travel, tourism and leisure industries are collectively a massive generator of global economic activity and jobs," said Peter Foster, Air Astana Chief Executive.
"We firmly believe, in line with IATA and the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, of which we are full members, that pre-departure Covid-19 testing for passengers intending to take international flights holds the key to a restart," he added.
According to the Kazakh Civil Aviation Association, Kazakhstan’s airports saw revenues decline by 70% in the second and third quarters of 2020.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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