Air Astana shifts capacity to China, eyes connecting traffic growth

Air Astana shifted 15 percent of its international capacity onto new routes within five days of suspending flights to the Middle East, chief executive Ibrahim Canliel said in Almaty.

The Kazakh carrier had already absorbed two shocks: the pandemic, and the loss of its two most important foreign markets after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Overflights of Russia also became impossible because of objections from its insurers.

When conflict with Iran broke out last spring, Air Astana suspended its well-performing Middle East services along with the rest of the industry. Fuel costs were rising too. Canliel said the airline expected a difficult transition.

Load factors instead came close to high-season levels or exceeded them, he said, and revenue in March and April was strong. Most of the freed capacity went to China, where the Shanghai route performed well from its first day.

Air Astana now sees the expanded China network as a chance to position itself more strongly as a connecting carrier linking Asia, Europe and Central Asia. The shift came after the carrier was forced to redistribute capacity rapidly rather than by a planned route strategy.