The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intends to conduct an audit of Kazakh aviation next year. Kazakhstan will be able to operate direct flights to the U.S. by 2025 if it succeeds in confirming Category 1 safety rating. Director General of the Kazakhstan’s Aviation Administration Catalin Radu said this in an exclusive interview to Jibek Joly TV channel, noting that at present, the aviation industry in the country evolves and has all the prerequisites to become a leader in the Central Asian region in the future.
“Based on the ICAO audits that happening the last few years, we have excellent results, both on safety and security. But our focus now, it’s more on working with the European Commission and EASA. We just signed a memorandum with EASA in term of technical cooperation and mutual support, and with our colleagues in FAA of the U.S. to start flying in direct flights. So, practically our main focus right now, it is to make sure that in term of safety, we have the highest standard of EASA and we will work with our colleagues in FAA to pass the EASA audit,” Radu said.
Last year, the Kazakh airline passenger traffic grew by almost a quarter, making up a 17 percent increase compared to 2021. Domestic air carriers transported more than one million people over the year. New aircraft were acquired last year to maintain the upward trend. Work on updating the domestic fleet will continue in the coming years.
“After the pandemic, it was an exponential growth of bringing new aircrafts in Kazakhstan. I think we are one of the most dynamic aviation in the region. I can tell you that our fleet Air Astana, Fly Arystan, Scat and Qazaq Air, they have one of the youngest fleets in the region that also brings a lot of audit volume in term of economic value for the country, in term of efficiency, effectiveness and also, sustainability. Last year, we registered more than 120 aircrafts. I think around 20 aircrafts were brand new,” added Radu.
