Air Astana has just placed its largest single airplane order ever. The flag carrier of Kazakhstan has announced an order for up to fifteen Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Air Astana Makes Its Largest Aircraft Order Ever
Air Astana currently has a fleet of roughly 35 planes that consists primarily of Airbus A320 family aircraft, including new A320 and A321neos. The Kazakh carrier also operates a handful of Boeing 767 widebody jets, including the world’s youngest 767.
With this new order from Boeing, it appears that the airline has major expansion plans on the horizon. The fifteen orders announced today will join three additional 787-9 Dreamliners that the airline is in the process of acquiring from lessors.
Peter Foster, CEO of Air Astana, said this about the order and the airline’s future plans:
“Air Astana is strategically committed to boosting its service capabilities from Central Asia / Caucasus to Asia, Europe and the rest of the world over the next decade, with the arrival of the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner next year marking the start of this exciting phase of development. With its customer friendly cabin, fuel efficiency and range flexibility, the fleet of up to 18 Boeing 787-9 aircraft is destined to become an outstanding success with the airline and its discerning passengers.”
While we don’t yet have complete details on how the airline will outfit these aircraft, we do know that it will be outfitted with 303 seats. Air Astana currently offers a competitive Business Class product on its Boeing 767s and I’d expect we’d see something similar on the 787s.
My Thoughts
I had the opportunity to fly Air Astana on our family trip to Asia earlier this year and had an amazing experience. We were supposed to fly on one of the carrier’s Boeing 767s but had a last minute equipment swap to an A321neo on our flight between Dubai and Almaty. Pricing on the route was sky high even in Economy but, it was one of the best Economy Class flights I’ve ever had.
Mrs. ATX has family in Kazakhstan and I’m extremely excited to see that the airline is planning to use these aircraft to expand to North America. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to try this product out soon. However, the carrier has very limited airline partners which makes it almost impossible to book tickets with miles outside of the airline’s Nomad Club frequent flyer program.
Summary
Air Astana has placed an order for up to 15 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, marking its largest aircraft order ever. The flag carrier of Kazakhstan plans to use the new aircraft to expand its route network across Asia, Europe, and North America.