Ranks India second priority market; number one in both traffic & proportion.
Celebrating two decades of connecting Kazakhstan and India, Air Astana has announced the launch of its new Almaty – Mumbai route, with thrice-weekly flights commencing 20th April 2025. Visits Mumbai to strengthen ties with the travel trade, in collaboration with BrandIt.
Ibrahim Canliel, Chief Financial Officer of Air Astana, shared during an exclusive interaction with T3 that in 2024, the airline increased its capacity by 9.2% in terms of available seat kilometers. Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs) grew by 10.1%, while the load factor rose by 0.6% to reach 83.5%. In terms of revenue, Air Astana achieved a 12.4% increase, outpacing capacity growth, and EBITDAR rose by 16%, said to be positioning the airline among the strongest performers globally.
Sharing insights on growth specific to the India market, Canliel noted that Air Astana carried approximately 160,000 passengers between Kazakhstan and India last year. “In Delhi, we doubled our capacity mid-2023, which contributed to the overall growth in the market,” he added.
Canliel also highlighted key potential markets for Air Astana, pointing to their home regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as major markets like China and particularly India, which he described as geographically very close to Kazakhstan. “In terms of market growth, China is very close. In terms of volume size, pre-COVID, China was one of our top markets, along with Turkey, Georgia, Dubai and the Gulf region. In Europe, Frankfurt continues to be significant for us, and we are expanding there with more direct flights,” he shared.
Exclusively speaking with T3 about the India market, Peter Foster, CEO of Air Astana Group, shared that 2024 has been a strong year, marking the airline’s first as a publicly listed company. “India is one of our best routes. The Delhi route has been one of our best performing routes, and we expect Mumbai to deliver similarly strong results.”
Highlighting India’s growing importance, Foster added, “India is currently among our top two priority markets in terms of growth potential and long-term prospects. In terms of outbound traffic and proportion, India now ranks number one. When we look at the actual number of passengers on board, Indian passport holders represent a larger share among all foreign nationals flying with us.”