The fleet simplification plan at Air Astana (KC, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev) continues apace, with CEO Peter Foster saying the state-owned airline now has the "simplest fleet profile" it has ever had. With the recent retirement of its E190-E2s, the airline is down to an A320 Family fleet and three B767-300ERs.
Speaking during a March 14, 2025, earnings call, Foster also said a decision to add a third fuel tank to six A321-200NX(LR)s had proved to be a success. "That has enabled the range of the aircraft to increase from around 3,600 nautical miles to around 4,200 nautical miles," he said. "It means we can fly nonstop from Almaty to London with a full payload."
The extra tank has been added to four of the six aircraft and the remaining two will have their modifications done by the start of summer. Foster says the modified A321-200NX(LR)s negate the need for any A321-200NY(XLR)s. "We decided not to take any," he said, also describing the XLR variant as "expensive."
Air Astana has also being running an inhouse programme to extend the life of its A320/A321neo aircraft and manage the ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine issues. The airline grounds aircraft over the low season to allow engines to stay on wing longer despite the engines' reduced life. Air Astana can then deploy those aircraft and engines into service over the peak season. Foster said the carrier had around six aircraft grounded last summer and 13 grounded last winter.
"We'll continue doing that in 2025 and, ideally, we'll have the maximum number of aircraft available during the peak season," said Foster, who anticipates the problems with the Pratt & Whitney engines to last until at least mid-2027.
The airline plans to take delivery of four aircraft this year - three A320neo and one A320neo. One E190-E2 remains in the country pending the removal of its engines before export.
Foster said Air Astana had also implemented several practical measures to address the Pratt & Whitney challenges. This included leasing an additional four A320-200s, which were redeployed to low-cost subsidiary FlyArystan. "We were also able to reach an agreement with Pratt & Whitney to acquire extra PW1100 engines," he said.
FlyArystan separation
In related news, the deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition has said that FlyArystan's separation from Air Astana remains incomplete. In 2024, the budget carrier secured its own air operator's certificate and is now a standalone legal entity.
"Why do we say that the separation process is not yet complete? Because FlyArystan still belongs to Air Astana," the Kazakh news site UlysMedia reported Deputy Chairman Bolat Sambetov as saying. "The complete separation will occur when the company completely ceases to depend on Air Astana, that is, on its direct competitor. This can happen either in the case of privatisation or transfer to state ownership."
Sambetov was criticising Air Astana Group's market dominance, saying it had a 55% market share. "We see monopolisation of the market, and this reduces price competition and incentives to improve services,” he said.
When first announcing plans to hive off FlyArystan from Air Astana, Foster said there were no plans to remove the low-cost carrier from Air Astana Group. Instead, he said it was a matter of implementing best legal and regulatory practices after FlyArystan experienced several years of growth and was no longer a small carrier.
