Kazakhstan has extended the open skies regime for five years. It will function in 13 airports of the country. Earlier it was in effect in 12 cities, including Astana, Almaty, Taraz, Shymkent, Aktau, Semei, Karagandy, Oskemen, Pavlodar, Petropavl, Kokshetau and Turkistan. Now it was also adopted at the Aliya Moldagulova International Airport in Aktobe. According to industry experts, this decision will help to attract new foreign air carriers, promote competition and open new international routes. On top of that, it will lower the cost of airline tickets. Overall, the open skies regime provides for the lifting of all restrictions on the number of flights and the granting of the fifth freedom of the air to foreign airlines on the routes with no Kazakh airline operation. The prolongation of the regime will also have a positive impact on the development of the transit potential of the country, the relevant ministry believes.
“The opening of new international routes and introduction of the open skies regime contributes to the development of transit potential. Before the pandemic, we carried about a million passengers on transit flights through Kazakhstan. These were the results of 2019. Unfortunately, these figures declined due to the pandemic. We now hope that, with the improvement of the epidemiological situation, all this will resume, and we will reach the same results, which will continue to grow further,” said Timur Tlegenov, Deputy Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development.
It bears noting that the number of passengers carried by air transport in Kazakhstan broke all records last year, having reached nearly 10 million in the first 11 months. According to the forecasts of analysts, the indicators for the entire 2022 may increase by another 800,000.
