Air Astana is to expand its presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On September 13, 2024, the Kazakh flag carrier announced the launch of new services between several cities in the two countries.
Starting on 26th October 2024, Air Astana will launch a new route connecting Atyrau (GUW), in the oil-producing region of western Kazakhstan, to Dubai International Airport (DXB). This will be followed four days later by the start of new services between Astana (NQZ) and Abu Dhabi (AUH) and, on December 12, 2024, between Almaty (ALA) and Abu Dhabi (AUH).
Each of these services will be operated twice weekly, with either Airbus A321neo or A321LR single aisle aircraft.
In recent years there has been a surge in air connectivity between Kazakhstan and the UAE. Air Astana, for example, already operates some 20 weekly services between Kazakhstan’s two main cities, Astana and Almaty, and Dubai.
At the same time, Cirium data shows that, in addition to the aforementioned services operated by Air Astana, several UAE-based airlines (Air Arabia, flydubai and Wizz Abu Dhabi) have programed a combined 47 weekly frequencies between the two countries during the 2023/24 Winter season.
