Blair Pollock, the acting chairman and project manager for Qazaq Air (IQ, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev), says the airline's sole shareholder, Samruk-Kazyna NWF, has alluded to plans to dispose of a shareholding in the airline to private investors.
Speaking at a press conference earlier this week, Blair said the Kazakh sovereign investment fund wants to involve the private sector in the domestic carrier's operations as that could help improve Qazaq Air's managerial structure as well as its financial performance. He did not however provide any timeframe for the sale.
"Samruk-Kazyna holds 100% of the shares [in Qazaq Air]," he was quoted by Tengrinews. "But it has been placed on a list of companies slated for privatization. It is anticipated that only a small proportion of the shares will be sold. We think that it will attract private capital."
Operational since late August of this year, Qazaq Air operates a fleet of three Dash 8-400s (leased from Falcon Aviation Services (FVS, Abu Dhabi Bateen)) for flights to seven destinations around Kazakhstan including Almaty International, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kostanay, Pavlodar, Shymkent, Atyrau, and Aktobe.
