Good News for Air Astana

As most of you know… the European Aviation Authority black listed all airlines operating from Kazakhstan in 2009 after  the Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Committee failed to pass the ICAO's  (International Civil Aviation Organisation) audit. 

Air Astana was exempt from the blacklisting, however other restrictions were applied to them that did not allowed the airline to expand their operations in the EU…. This was bad news for an airline that has worked hard to set international aviation standards in this region.  

But good news has arrived and Air Astana has now received the rights to increase their flights to the EU. 

According to the European Union' s Aviation Safety Committee, Air Astana has fully complied with international standards, and is therefore, exempt from the restrictions imposed by the EU since July 2009.

However, according to the European Commissions’s latest press release “all other Kazakh airlines remain banned from Europe until the Kazakh authorities have implemented a sustainable system to effectively oversee the safety of these carriers”.

Currently, Air Astana operates from Almaty & Astana to London 3 times a week, every day to Frankfurt, and 6 times a week from Astana/Atyrau to Amsterdam.

This is all good news... not just for the airline, which can now launch new routes into Europe, but hopefully this will also have a positive influence on the country’s tourism.

Congratulations Air Astana!!!