January 1–15 Central Asian Commercial Aviation News Brief
02.01.2025
An investment company from Vietnam, owner of LCC VietJet, has signed documents to acquire a 51% stake in Kazakhstan's state-run carrier Qazaq Air, in a move that promises the emergence of a new powerful player in the Central Asian air transport market.
Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, the owner of Qazaq Air, and a consortium comprising Central Asia Aviation Holdings (a subsidiary of the Vietnamese conglomerate Sovico Group) and Kazasia Holdings, signed a package of binding transactional documents, including a sale and purchase agreement.
Investors are planning a strategic transformation of Qazaq Air. The expected substantial investment by Sovico Group (a major shareholder of VietJet Air) includes plans to expand Qazaq Air’s fleet with 20 Boeing 737MAX or Airbus A321 jets over the next 5-7 years.
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Modern longhaul narrowbody aircraft have become increasingly popular on routes between Central Asia and Southeast Asia, according to the independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie.
He cited the OAG data which showed that there were about 100 weekly flights from Central Asia to South East Asia across 25 routes, including charters, at the end of December. The narrowbodies served 19 out of them. Widebody airliners have been used entirely on six routes and for some frequencies on a few of the others.
Kazakhstan’s Air Astana was the largest operator of new long-haul narrowbodies between these markets. It had 20 Airbus A321LR flights to South East Asia and just seven flights with Boeing 767 widebodies.
Kazakhstan’s other main carrier, SCAT, flies the Boeing 737MAX-8 and MAX-9 on about 15 weekly flights to South East Asia. It also used Boeing 757s or 767s for charter flights to this region, according to Flightradar24 data.
Batik Air Malaysia (OD) switched its twice weekly 7.5 hours Kuala Lumpur-Tashkent service from A330-300 widebodies to Boeing 737MAX-8s in November.
Uzbekistan Airways (HY) also operates this route, using a mix of A321LRs and Boeing 787-8s.
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04.01.2025 Uzbekistan Airways achieves record-breaking performance, passenger numbers soared by 20% in 2024
Uzbekistan Airways served more than 6 million passengers in one year for the first time in its history in 2024, a figure representing a 20% rise over a record 2023.
In 2024, Uzbeki flag carrier significantly expanded its international network by launching scheduled flights to 11 new destinations and continued to invest in fleet modernization by leasing two Airbus A320neo aircraft from the secondary market. Also, the airline added two Airbus A330-200 widebodies by wet leasing them from local carrier Qanot Sharq.
Besides, regional carrier Silk Avia, part of the Uzbekistan Airways group, received two new 72-seat ATR 72-600 turboprops and one 19-seat L-410.
Uzbekistan Airways has signed a lease agreement with SMBC Aviation Capital for two Airbus A321neos for delivery in 2026.
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Kazakhstan's regional airline Qazaq Air transported more than 600,000 passengers, generating approximately 21 billion tenge in annual revenue and achieving an EBITDA of over 2 billion tenge in 2024, according to Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, the owner of Qazaq Air. This means that the carrier's passenger traffic grew by only 2% year-on-year, and revenue - by 7%.
However, the airline can expect significant changes this year, including traffic growth. On December 31, 2024 Sovico Group, an investment company from Vietnam (owner of LCC VietJet) signed documents on acquisition of 51% of Qazaq Air’s shares.
Qazaq Air currently operates five DHC Dash 8 Q-400 regional turboprop.
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Privately-run Kyrgyzstan-based carrier Aero Nomad Airlines (IATA code: KA) launched non-stop flights from the capital Bishkek to Phuket, Thailand and Phu Quoc, Vietnam, providing direct services between the Central Asian republic and the two popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia for the first time.
The weekly charter flights, a joint effort with local travel agency Kompas, are served utilizing Airbus A320 narrowbody aircraft.
The charter program to Goa, Phuket and Phu Quoc will be operated through February 27, 2025, the airline said.
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Outlining the results of 2024, Air Astana Group said that it was “a year of growth, strengthening leadership, openness and development”.
A landmark event for Kazakhstan's largest carrier was its IPO in February. A triple listing with free float of 42% of shares on three exchanges: London's LSE, and two Kazakhstani exchanges (AIX and KASE), generated some US$356 mln for the group.
Among other achievements, the group notes the expansion of both its fleet and route network.
According to Air Astana, the group added 10 aircraft in 2024, net increasing its total fleet from 49 to 57 aircraft. These were exclusively Airbus A320 family aircraft, both ceos and neos; A320 and A321 variants.
Implementing plans to expand its route network, Air Astana launched new flights from Almaty and Astana to Phu Quoc and Abu Dhabi; Astana-Phuket, Atyrau-Dubai, as well as from Shymkent and Almaty to Medina, and Shymkent-Jeddah.
A number of destinations suspended due to Covid were reinstated and a new route from Almaty to Frankfurt was announced for June 2025.
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Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (Astana, NQZ) served 8.3 million passengers in 2024, which is a record for the gateway of the Kazakhstan’ capital.
The second largest airport in the Central Asian republic managed to increase passenger traffic by 10.7% compared to the record year of 2023, despite the runway repair challenges.
The airport is being managed for more than a year by the UAE-based Terminals Astana Airport Management, which was granted trust management rights until January 7, 2025.
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By that time the company should present a long-term business plan for the development of the NQZ and make a decision on the extension of the airport management and readiness to invest in its development.
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Central Asia’s first low-cost carrier FlyArystan (Kazakhstan) debuted its own ‘FS’ code operations and fully transitioned to its own air operator certificate (AOC) on January 1, 2025.
Established in May 2019 as the budget division of Kazakhstan's legacy flag carrier Air Astana, FlyArystan has been flying using its parent's ‘KC’ code.
Thus, a number of moves have been completed that separate the companies operating under different business models within a single Air Astana Group.
FlyArystan became a separate legal entity (but 100% owned by Air Astana) at the end of 2023. The next important step was for the no-thrills carrier to obtain its own air operator certificate from Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan in April 2024.
The ICAO code was also received: ‘AYN’.
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Uzbekistan's privately-run airline Qanot Sharq has announced a temporary suspension of certain flights to Russia.
From January 20 through March 6, flights from Tashkent, Bukhara, Namangan, Samarkand, and Fergana to Moscow will be halted. Additionally, the airline will cease flights from Namangan and Samarkand to St. Petersburg during the same period.
According to the airline, it needs to withdraw two Airbus A320s, which were used on Russian routes, for scheduled C-checks.
Qanot Sharq’s remaining fleet—two Airbus A321neo aircraft and a wet-leased A330 widebody —are operated exclusively on routes to the Middle East and Asia.
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08.01.2025 Silk Avia completes first 2-year C-Check
Uzbekistan's regional carrier Silk Avia, has completed the first 2-year base maintenance for its ATR 72-600 turboprop.
This maintenance procedure involves a complete disassembly of the cabin, structural inspections, and thorough checks of all aircraft systems.
According to the airline, the work was carried out by Uzbekistan Airways Technics, the country’s largest provider of MRO services, in collaboration with European specialist EU Wings.
For insights about the latest trends in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul market development in Central Asia, Caspian & Caucasus visit MRO Central Asia 2025 conference and exhibition) to be held on March 18–19, 2025 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
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At the very end of last year, a major event in Kazakhstan's civil aviation went almost unnoticed, as it was overshadowed by a deadly air accident (the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines’ jet, flying to Russia, but crashed in Kazakhstan): a new terminal was put into operation at Shymkent airport.
The much-anticipated inauguration took place on December 25, but the terminal will serve only daytime domestic flights of the base carrier SCAT for some time.
The new, 40,000 square meters terminal, built at a cost of 24 billion tenge, is a modern 4-storey complex meeting international standards. Its four galleries are equipped with six telescopic gangways.
The throughput capacity of the terminal is 2,000 passengers per hour, which is 10 times more than that of the old terminal. The new apron adjacent to the terminal can accommodate up to 10 aircraft.
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Heydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD), located in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, concluded 2024 with a 31% increase in passenger traffic, reaching 7.537 million passengers. The airport handled nearly 60,000 flights throughout the year.
Its connectivity expanded to 80 destinations, compared to 68 city connections served in 2023. The number of airlines operating at the airport increased from 38 to 40, including 18 low-cost carriers.
Transit traffic surged by 130%, exceeding 373,000 passengers. The major domestic route between Baku and the Nakhchivan exclave operated 3,419 flights (+24%), carrying 728,000 passengers (+4%).
The rapid growth in traffic was supported by infrastructure improvements. The airport completed the reconstruction of a runway to meet international standards, constructed and renovated 4,332 meters of taxiways, and installed self-service kiosks for check-in and baggage drop-off.
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14.01.2025 Avolon finds first customer in Uzbekistan
One of the world’s largest aircraft lessors, the Irish company Avolon, has signed its first agreement with an airline from Uzbekistan.
The customer is the private carrier Centrum Air, which has entered into a preliminary agreement to lease one narrow-body Airbus A320-200, Avolon announced on January 13.
Previously, Avolon’s only customer in Central Asia was Kazakhstan's flag carrier Air Astana.
Centrum Air is seeking new aircraft to realize its plans for launching new routes across Central Asia, Russia, Asia, and the Middle East. The carrier aims to acquire two A321ceo, two A320neo, one A321neo, and three long-haul A330-300 aircraft in 2025.
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International Aviation
1 个月Very informative