Air Astana has announced that its Almaty (ALA) to London Heathrow (LHR) route will be operated nonstop with Airbus A321LR aircraft as from October 4, 2024.
This 3,500-mile route will thus become one of the longest being operated by this model of Airbus narrow-body aircraft anywhere in the World.
Air Astana already serves London Heathrow with single-aisle A321 aircraft. Until the new nonstop service begins, though, the service makes an intermediate stop in Aktau (SCO), in Western Kazakhstan.
In order to launch this new nonstop service, Air Astana has sought the cooperation of Airbus, the aircraft’s manufacturer. This has resulted in the fitting into the aircraft of additional fuel tanks.
With this route between the UK capital and Kazakhstan’s largest city now becoming nonstop, Air Astana has managed to reduce the travel time by 1.5 hours to an overall flight time of 9 hours and 35 minutes.
In February 2024, Air Astana received the first of seven A321LR aircraft it is to take from leasing firm Aercap in order to replace its Boeing 757 fleet.