FlyArystan, Air Astana’s New Low Cost Airline Takes Off

Air Astana's new low cost airline, FlyArystan, commenced flights on Wednesday.

Based at Almaty International Airport in Kazakhstan, FlyArystan will operate six domestic routes, with journey times from one to three hours, to Taraz; Shymkent; Pavlodar; Uralsk; Nur-Sultan (Astana) and Karaganda.

The airline has 160 staff supporting the business, including 25 pilots and 45 flight attendants, with many seconded from Air Astana. The rest are new recruits who, in addition to undertaking call centre reservations work, are being trained to assist in ambassador roles at check-in as part of the FlyArystan ground services team across the 7 initial cities served.

Air Astana has supplied an initial two Airbus A320 aircraft from its fleet under its Air Operator’s Certificate. A further two A320s will follow in the last quarter of the year, by which time FlyArystan should be operating at least 12 routes and will be looking at obtaining an AOC in its own right.

The aircraft have been newly retrofitted with 180 brand new blue leather Recaro slimline seats, featuring red head-rests, the same colours as the cabin crew uniforms, designed by a local fashion house.

Seat pitch is 29 inches, but the airline says that it feels like 31 inches thanks to the curve of the seat and high positioning of the seatback pockets.

“With this exciting new airline we are courting a new generation of travellers. People who typically get around our large country using the train or bus, or those who don’t travel at all. We are pitching FlyArystan at the visiting friends and relatives market, primarily. In turn this will stimulate the leisure market as a second strand, together with an element of business travel. A number of destinations handed over to us by Air Astana will suit a different, more price-conscious demographic. Accordingly, we aim to introduce some purchase options giving flexibility for business flyers, including offering refunds or the ability to change tickets, albeit at higher tariffs,” said Tim Jordan, Head of FlyArystan.

Passengers travelling with 5kg of hand or cabin baggage will not be charged. Travelling with 10kg of luggage however, will incur a cost – dependent on whether the route is short, medium or long.

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