Just further information on this...I was chatting with a friend from = Kazakhstan today, and he mentioned that Air Astana may not take off as = planned. There has apparently been a plan drawn up to create a group = similar to the Air Kazakhstan group from a few years ago. Airlines = rumoured are Air Astana, Irtysh Avia and Air Kazakhstan. I am sure that more in this will be known in the coming days/weeks Cheers Scotty ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Scotty=20 To: Aviatsiya=20 Cc: airline@listserv.cuny.edu=20 Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2002 1:43 AM Subject: [aviatsiya] Air Astana 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
