Air Astana says 2022 was best year ever

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana group has reported a profit after tax for 2022 of US$78.4 million, on revenues of US$1.03 billion, generated by 7.35 million passengers. The figures are respectively 115 percent, 36 percent and 11 percent higher than 2021, the highest in the airline’s 20 year history on all three metrics. Commenting on the results, Peter Foster, President and CEO stated that “the group significantly exceeded expectations despite political unrest in Kazakhstan in January and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. Revenue loss caused by the closure of routes to, from and over Russia was more than compensated for by increased capacity deployment to Europe, Asia, India, and the Caucasus.” Commenting on the performance of FlyArystan, the group’s four-year old low cost carrier, Foster stated that “FlyArystan has grown by 366 percent since its inaugural year of 2019. It has a great future, as this region probably has the fastest growing low cost air travel market in the world today.” Looking forward, Foster pointed out that while 2023 is expected to continue to deliver robust passenger growth, “headwinds persist in the form of continued airport and service provider resource and supply chain limitations, technical reliability issues with PW1100G  engines, and general inflationary pressure on all aviation-related resources.” Air Astana commenced its operations in May 2002 as a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s national wealth fund, Samruk Kazyna, and BAE Systems, with respective shares of 51 percent and 49 percent. The airline is a full-service international and domestic carrier, with its low-cost division, FlyArystan, rapidly growing in regional and domestic markets since being launched in 2019. The Air Astana Group now operates a fleet of 43 aircraft, comprising 35 Airbus A320/A321 family aircraft, three Boeing 767 and five Embraer E2. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]