This new airline which was announced some time ago by the Kazakhstan Government, to take over the domestic routes of Air Kazakhstan (formerly Air Kazakstan) has just had it's first 737-800 rolled out in it's livery. Photo at: http://justplanes.net/images/welcome800.jpg Having a look at the Air Astana website at www.air-astana.kz, I got a very different picture from that which the Kazakh government was portraying for the airline only as long as six months ago. Back then it was said that Air Astana would be operating domestic and regional flights from Air Kazakhstan's network. I was led to understand that these routes were to be the routes which are currently not very profitable for Air Kaz. Now having a look at the website, I see Almaty, Astana, Aktau and Aktobe being the only destinations. No mention of flights to neighbouring Central Asian destinations. What surprises me is that if these routes are so unprofitable for Air Kaz under current economic conditions, why on earth has Air Astana taking delivery of 3 737-700/800s? Surely the lease payments on these aircraft are going to be huge as to what can actually be afforded? On the first Air Astana website at http://www.air-astana.com you see an Airbus A300 being pictured on there. At least they didn't actually think they could fill an A300 on the Almaty-Astana or Aktau-Aktobe routes ;-) Then the question needs to be asked....what does this mean for Air Kazakhstan? The airline is practically bankrupt, and has been in trouble for quite some time. Could we see Air Kazakhstan go the same way that Air Ukraine seems to have gone in their marketplace (with Aerosvit and Ukraine International)? The one up side for Air Astana is that they have a "westerner" at the helm of the operations. Not for one minute saying that a Kazakh would not be able to do the job, but there is less chance of corruption (which would have been no doubt endemic at Air Kazakhstan) if the person is taken from outside that sphere. Also, one thing I have been trying to find out, is who on earth are the shareholders? Is it 100% Kazakh government owned? Any thoughts? Cheers Scotty
