Air Astana gets 2 new Boeings

Air Astana has expanded its airplane fleet with two new Boeing 767s, the press-service of the company told Tengrinews. Air Astana owns the new Boeing 767-300 ERs bought directly from the manufacturer under a 2012 contact. The newly acquired aircrafts will replace the Boeing 767P 4-KCA and Boeing-767 P 4-KCB that it is leasing. Air Astana company signed the contract to purchase three Boeing 767s and three Boeing-787-8 Dreamliners in February 2012 to ensure fulfillment of the Kazakhstan strategy to develop its transport sector and establish flights to all the ranking capitals located within 7 hours of flight around Kazakhstan. The company expecting the third Boeing 767 to be delivered in 2014, and the Boeing-787s in 2017 and 2019. "The arrival of the new Boeing 767s marks another major step in the renewal of the Air Astana fleet, following the delivery of latest generation Airbus and Embraer types over the past two years, " said Peter Foster, President of Air Astana. "With the average age of the fleet now being only six years, Air Astana can rightly claim to operate one of the youngest fleets in the world." According to Peter Foster the new aircrafts were purchased at the companies own expense. The new airliners will be used to make flights from Almaty, Astana and Atyrau to Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Air Astana is a joint venture of Kazakhstan national wealth fund Samruk Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems (49%).