Air Astana in billion-dollar Boeing order
Air Astana, the national flag carrier of Kazakhstan, will purchase four Boeing 767-300ER aircraft and three Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, an order worth US$1.3 billion at list prices and the largest ever in Kazakhstan’s civil aviation history.
The Boeing 767s will be delivered in 2013 and 2014 and the Boeing 787s in 2017 and 2019.
The airline’s chairman, Nurzhan Baidauletov, managing director of its majority owner, sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, said that the introduction of the Dreamliner “will place Air Astana amongst the leading airlines of the world in terms of operating the highest quality, environmentally friendly air services”.
Air Astana president Peter Foster said the Boeing 787 would enable the airline to operate routes to the United States, Australasia and Africa, as its business plans develop.
A fleet of Embraer 190s will help Air Astana to expand its Central Asian network in 2012.
New international services from Astana to Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia; Astana to Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan; Almaty to Kazan, Russia and Atyrau to Moscow will be launched following the delivery of three more aircraft during the second quarter of 2012.
Air Astana’s net profit declined by 19% to US$61.9 million in 2011, a result blamed on the price of fuel. Capacity grew by 15% and the number of passengers carried grew by 16% to more than three million.
Ian Jarrett
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