April 16 — May 15. Central Asian Commercial Aviation News Brief
According to its quarterly report, the Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s largest airline group, increased passenger traffic in the first quarter of 2024 by 18.5% compared to the same period last year.
The parent airline and its low-cost subsidiary, FlyArystan, collectively carried 1.9 million passengers from January through March, accounting for 58% of the total air passenger traffic in Kazakhstan for the period.
The group's statutory revenue grew by nearly 11%, reaching US$264.7 million. However, earnings before tax (EBITDAR) amounted to US$43.7 million, which is almost 16% less year-on-year.
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Vision Invest, a Saudi Arabian development and investment holding company, has expressed interest in participation in reconstruction and management of Andijan International Airport (IATA code: AZN).
It's been reported after the meeting of the Uzbeki Minister of Transport Ilhom Mahkamov with the head of the holding Omar al-Midani, held within the framework of the Third Tashkent International Investment Forum.
Vision Invest expressed its intent to “reconstruct Andijan airport on the terms of public-private partnership, at its own expense and manage it in the future”.
A preliminary agreement was signed that the potential investor will conduct research and prepare project proposals within six months.
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Since May 2019, when its first revenue flight was operated, Kazakhstan's only budget carrier FlyArystan has transported over 12 million passengers, over 10% of whom had never flown on an airplane before.
FlyArystan, has been operating for five years on the classic low-cost model, expanded its route network to 14 domestic destinations in Kazakhstan, as well as flights to Georgia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, India, China, UAE and Qatar. It operates from bases in Almaty, Astana, Atyrau, Aktau and Shymkent.
The low-cost carrier's fleet has grown to 19 Airbus A320 aircraft, 8 of which are the newest neo aircraft, delivered directly from the manufacturer's factory. The fleet is expected to further grow to 22 aircraft by the end of 2024.
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The overhaul of the runway at Astana airport commenced
Since May 1, mobilization activities have begun at Nursultan Nazarbaev International Airport (Astana; NQZ) to overhaul the runway, said Kazakh capital airport’s press service in a statement.
In this regard, flights at Astana airport will not be operated from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. NOTAMs were sent via Kazaeronavigatsiya, the Central Asian nation’s air navigation service provider, about the restrictions imposed at the airfield.
Swiss-headquartered Mabetex Group is the general contractor of the project with K-Dorstroy contracted to carry out asphalt concrete works. The latter has experience in the reconstruction of airfield coverings at a number of airports in Kazakhstan, such as Astana, Aktobe, Shymkent, Kyzylorda, Taraz, Taldykorgan, Uralsk and Petropavlovsk.
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Kazakhstan's cargo airline Alpha Sky signed a memorandum of cooperation with the national postal operator QazPost. It will help the air freight specialist to launch regular cargo flights from its base airport of Turkestan (HSA) in the south of the Central Asian country to Hong Kong.
For this purpose, a joint distribution center for processing international postal shipments has been opened in Turkestan, the airline reported on May 6.
The airline plans to carry e-commerce goods from Hong Kong to Turkestan. The return flights will be loaded with export goods it hopes.
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Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD) saw 50% jump in passenger traffic to 570,000 in April.
Foreign airlines accounted for 54.3% of the traffic on international routes, with the rest carried by Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL). Foreign airlines served more than 280,000 passengers, and the national air carrier – 236,000.
52,700 passengers were transported on busiest local route Baku-Nakhchivan (+by 30%) during the month.
The number of transit passengers continues to grow. Compared to April last year, their number increased by 85% and reached 28 thousand people.
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From January through March, Uzbekistan's airports served 3.13 million passengers, representing an impressive 42% growth year-on-year, Uzbekistan Airports, the state-run operator of international airports in the Central Asian republic reported.
Of the total, 2.37 million people traveled internationally with 762,430 taking domestic flights.
During the quarter, the country's international airports handled 25,360 flights, up 40% year-on-year. Of these, 17,340 were international flights and 8,000 – domestic one.
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The aviation authorities of Kazakhstan and Egypt have agreed to increase the intensity of bilateral air service by more than threefold, from 14 to 48 flights per week.
Additionally, the number of permitted destinations in each country has been increased from two to three, the Civil Aviation Committee of the Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan reported.
On Kazakhstan’s side, the low-cost subsidiary of Air Astana - FlyArystan has been appointed as a designated carrier to operate regular flights between the countries in addition to the parent airline and privately-run SCAT Airlines.
Red Sea and Nile Air have been added to EgyptAir, EgyptAir Cargo and Air Cairo from the Egyptian side.
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The medium-haul fleet of Uzbekistan Airways has been added with another Airbus A320neo. The aircraft, which became the national Uzbek carrier’s 24th Airbus narrowbody, was welcomed at Tashkent International Airport on May 8.
The 4-year old aircraft (MSN 9115), which received local registration number UK32029, was delivered on long-term lease by BOC Aviation.
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The ex-Bamboo Airways aircraft has a two-class layout: 8 seats in business and 162 in economy class and powered by CFMI LEAP-1A26 engines.
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China Southern Airlines Asia's largest airline by fleet size, revenue and passengers served, is increasing the frequency of flights to three Central Asian countries.
Since late April, the carrier has increased the number of flights on the Beijing-Almaty route from 3 to 7 times a week. Daily flights are performed by Airbus A320/A321 aircraft. The growth of passenger traffic between Kazakhstan and China is facilitated by the mutual visa-free regime, which has been in effect since November 2023.
On April 21, China Southern resumed direct flights between Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and Urumqi.
Starting May 18, the Chinese carrier introduced an additional frequency on the Urumqi-Ashkhabad flight. Now flights to the capital of Turkmenistan are performed twice a week.
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Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and Bulgaria Air will resume direct air services between the capitals of the two countries.
The carriers signed an agreement to this effect during the visit of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev to Baku on May 8.
The carriers will commence joint flights between Baku and Sofia in the coming months, the office of the Bulgarian President announced. According to information from AZAL, flights on this route will begin on June 7. Three-hour flights will be operated on Embraer 190 jets.
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Jazeera Airways (J9) will launch direct flights between Kuwait City (KWI) and Batumi (BUS), staring June 14. Seasonal flights are scheduled through September 13.
With three flights a week, Jazeera is the only carrier to fly directly on the route. Batumi, Georgia’s main Black Sea resort, is the second destination the LCC will serve in the Caucasus country, after the capital city of Tbilisi.
Tbilisi is served with daily flights during the summer season. Jazeera has been on the Georgian market since 2018.
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The total number of international flights from Kazakhstan reached 567 per week, they are carried out on 121 routes and cover 28 countries, the Ministry of Transport of the Central Asian republic said.
Since the beginning of summer navigation a number of flights have been launched, with more to follow.
One of the most significant and highly anticipated events of the season was the arrival the Southeast Asia's largest LCC in Kazakhstan. On March 14 Malaysia’s AirAsia X? has inaugurated its first route to Central Asia with the opening of nonstop service from Kuala Lumpur to Almaty.
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By serving more than 2 million passengers this year, Samarkand Airport (SKD, Uzbekistan) intends to maintain its record pace of development set in 2023. If it succeeds, it will mean doubling passenger traffic two years in a row.
In 2023 Samarkand exceeded the mark of 1 million travelers served for the first time in its history, with traffic growing by more than 100% during the year. It was among the ACI Europe’s Top 3 fastest growing European airports in its category.
Before the start of the summer season, 24 airlines operated from the airport to 18 destinations with 95 flights per week.
“Our goal this year is to make 2 million passengers. We would like to become the first airport in Central Asia to grow at a rate of 100% for two years in a row,” Eduard Pogosov, manager of the aviation commerce department of Air Marakanda, which operates the airport, told local TV channel in April.
As part of the summer schedule, airlines continue to launch new flights and increase the frequency to popular destinations.
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As part of its strategy to follow international standards and reduce aviation emissions, Kazakhstan has signed an agreement to join the ICAO Assistance, Capacity-building and Training for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (ACT-SAF), thus becoming the first country in Central Asia/Caspian/Caucasus region to join the program.
ICAO will now assist Kazakhstan in developing and participating in ACT-SAF program activities, which include sharing best practices and relevant information, participation in training workshops and seminars, technical assistance on SAF-related issues in national action plans and implementation of specific SAF projects.
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The largest carrier in Kazakhstan, Air Astana, will introduce changes to Nomad Club frequent flyer program on 17th May 2024.
The methodology for point allocation within the loyalty program has been restructured. It will now be allocated based on the expenditure per fare, rather than per flight distance, as previously.
Under the new system, program members will receive 15 Nomad points for every 1,000 tenge (US$2.3) spent on a ticket on domestic routes. Additionally, for flights between Zone 1 (Almaty, Kyzylorda, Nur-Sultan, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Shymkent, Taraz) and Zone 2 (Aktau, Aktobe, Atyrau, Oral), 20 points will be awarded for every 1,000 tenge spent.
Earnings for international flights will be noticeably lower – three points for every US dollar spent.
However, there will be limits on points accumulation – no more than 3000 points for a domestic flight and 5000 points for an international one.
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The new Uzbekistan cargo airline Fly Khiva will commence its operations with flights to Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), the carrier's commercial director Farkhad Mukhutdinov told CentralAsia+ Aero. He did not specify when the first flight will take place.
It was previously expected that flights would begin in mid-April.
Mr. Mukhutdinov also confirmed that Fly Khiva plans to add two more aircraft of the type to its?fleet?in?2024.