BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 29. Kazakhstan and Luxembourg have signed a memorandum on the establishing of regular air communication, Trend reports.
As the Civil Aviation Committee of the country reported, the ceremony was attended by Marat Karabayev, Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan, Jean Asselborn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg, and other officials.
"While flights from Luxembourg used to be operated seven times a week, based on the signed memorandum, their frequency will increase to 21 times. This is a key agreement. After France and Finland, Luxembourg is the third country with which we sign the 5th level of openness under the "open skies" rules," Marat Karabayev said at a briefing.
The minister noted that attracting new transit flights also provides additional opportunities for entrepreneurs: goods that can find demand in the local market will be unloaded in Kazakhstan, and products will be loaded in Astana for European and Southeast Asian countries.
"Today, we signed this memorandum because we intend to increase the frequency of cargo flights passing through the capital airport of Kazakhstan. In the future, we hope that this will lead to an increase in cargo volumes through Astana Airport, as we connect Europe and Asia," noted Richard Forson, President of Cargolux.
Cargolux operated its first flight to Astana on May 1. Currently, the airline operates seven flights per week, connecting Luxembourg with cities in China and Japan via Astana Airport. Under the intergovernmental agreement, the frequency of regular cargo flights is scheduled to be increased to 42 per week in both directions.