Almaty - Warsaw direct flights may be established in 2014

A direct flight between Almaty and Warsaw is hopefully going to be established in Q1 2014, KazTAG reports citing Jacek Kluczkowski, Poland’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan. "The most important thing that we lack is a direct flight between Almaty and Warsaw. We are working on it. There is a Polish airline company, not our national air carrier, but the company is very serious and makes flights to all the main airports of Poland and Europe. At the moment we are approaching some amendments in the civil aviation cooperation agreement between Poland and Kazakhstan. We hope that we can make our tourists and yours happy next year," Kluczkowski said at the press-conference on December 7. According to him, it is important that Kazakhstan deals with its flight safety and airport security shortages and implements the recommendations made by the International Civil Aviation Organization. This would solve the problems between Kazakhstan and the European Union. "There are safety requirements, and Kazakhstan’s legal base doesn't meet all the ICAO or European safety requirements," the Ambassador pointed out. The Polish Ambassador said that an audit of Kazakhstan's airline companies will be made in the begging of 2014, and based on the results, the ICAO will make a decision. "We expect that in the first half of the year Europe and Kazakhstan will resolve this problem, and the direct flight will become possible. (...) There is a chance that the direct flight will be launched next year. I don't know how often it will be made, it won't be a daily flight, but at least once a week," he added. Initially the Almaty-Warsaw flight was scheduled to be established this year.