Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 5
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
Kazakhstan’s airlines will launch a number of new flights in 2017- 2020, the Kazakh Investment and Development Minister Zhenis Kassymbek wrote in a Facebook post.
According to the minister, the national carrier Air Astana will launch direct flights from Kazakhstan’s capital Astana to Mongolia’s Ulaanbaatar in June 2017. Air Astana plans to open new routes from Astana to Singapore and Tokyo in 2019 and to Shanghai and New York in 2020. Moreover, Air Astana plans to increase the frequency of flights on some international routes.
Another Kazakh airline, SCAT, will launch direct flights from Astana to Yerevan in June 2017, Kassymbek said.
The minister also noted that taking into account the growing demand for air connection between Kazakhstan and European countries, Astana’s hosting the international exhibition EXPO 2017, and the development of the ‘Astana’ international financial center, foreign airlines will launch new flights from Kazakhstan to Europe.
In particular, LOT Polish Airlines will open a new route from Astana to Warsaw on May 8. The flights will be operated 4 times a week. Hungary’s big low-cost carrier Wizz Air will fly from Astana to Budapest from June 1. Finland’s Finnair will have two direct flights from Astana to Helsinki from June 19.
Moreover, Air China will fly from Astana to Beijing 3 times a week. The flights will be launched in June.
According to Kassymbek, 7 new international routes were opened from Kazakhstan in 2016 – from Astana to Amsterdam, from Almaty to Xian, Sharm El Sheikh and Tehran, from Aktau to Batumi and Sochi, and from Shymkent to Istanbul.
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