Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, carried 1,894,391 passengers for the period January-June 2017, of which 1,007,413 were domestic passengers and 886,978 were international passengers.
Overall Passenger traffic increased by 12% for the period. While passenger growth on domestic routes was a relatively modest 4%, international traffic grew by 22%, driven to a large extent by network traffic transiting through its Astana and Almaty hubs, which grew by 62%. Cargo uplift increased by 22% for the same period.
Commenting on the results, Peter Foster, President and CEO stated: “Kazakhstan’s economy is delivering modest growth after two very difficult years, and we expect this to accelerate as the economy continues to diversify. However international passenger growth is most encouraging, particularly network business. Astana EXPO 2017, further easing of visa restrictions, the new terminal at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport at Astana, and continued positive developments within the airline are all combining to set up strong traffic recovery.”