Astana, June 30 Kazakhstan’s national airline Air Astana is to inaugurate next week a direct flight between Astana and New Delhi, the Kazakh Ministry of Investment and Development announced on Friday.
“The Astana-Delhi flight will operate three times per week on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays,” Efe news quoted the ministry as saying.
The new air route is part of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s mandate to increase Kazakhstan’s passenger traffic four-fold by 2020.
“India’s route towards the Commonwealth of Independent States through Kazakhstan is one of the most promising,” the Ministry said.
“The flight between both capital cities will be an effective addition to the Almaty-Delhi line operated by Air Astana since 2004 and will stimulate commercial activity and the Astana International Financial Centre’s development,” it added.
Air Astana, a joint venture between the national welfare fund Samruk-Kazyna and the British company BAE Systems (51 and 49 percent of the shares respectively), flies to more than 40 international and 19 national destinations.