Air Astana (KC, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev) has been courted by both Star Alliance and Oneworld as the two global alliances scramble to tap into the growing Central Asian market. The Kazakh carrier has commissioned the U.S.-based Seabury Group to prepare a report on whether it should enter an alliance “and which one, because all alliances want us to join them,” Air Astana president Peter Foster told AIN Online in Astana recently. Mr Foster said that his airline is "concerned" at the prospect of allowing other airlines into its network via an alliance noting that the added capacity volumes could damage yields. “The devil is in the detail… It’s a lot of management time, expense and hassle… We may be there or may be not… [However], we are open to partnerships,” said Foster. Air Astana currently operates an A319-100, seven A320-200s, four A321-200s, five B757-200s, two B767-300s and eight E190s on flights which connect Kazakhstan with the UAE, Turkey, China, the CIS, Russia, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea.
Star Alliance, Oneworld begin courting Kazakhstan's Air Astana
Air Astana Boeing B757-200,
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