ASTANA, Kazakhstan, December 19. Kazakhstan plans to launch flights to Mumbai (India), Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Shanghai (China), and New York (US) in 2024–2025, said Transport Minister Marat Karabayev at a government meeting, Trend reports.
Kazakhstan today serves 110 destinations in 28 countries. The weekly flying frequency is 567 flights.
32 foreign lines were opened in the last two years, including flights to Milan, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Kuwait. Six foreign airlines have been granted permission to fly to Kazakhstan in 2023.
Furthermore, the "open skies" regime was amended, and all restrictions on the usage of the fifth degree of "freedom of air" were lifted. In this regard, the largest Asian low-cost carrier, Air Asia, will begin operating flights between Almaty and Kuala Lumpur on March 14, 2024. In the future, the airline intends to fly to Jeddah, employing the fifth degree of freedom of the air.
Furthermore, domestic flights in Kazakhstan are operated by five local airlines. The frequency of flights is 644 per week, which is 7 percent more than last year.
As the minister noted, in order to develop domestic tourism and provide the population with affordable air transportation, 6.9 billion tenge (about $15 million) was allocated from the republican budget to subsidize 23 routes in 9 regions in 2023. In 2024, 8.2 billion tenge (about $17.8 million) will be allocated for these purposes.