Flydubai today marked the launch of its first flight to Astana, the airline’s third destination in Kazakhstan.

With two flights a week to Astana, flydubai is the first Dubai-based carrier to provide a direct link to the Kazakhstan capital.
 
Speaking at a press conference in Astana, Ghaith Al Ghaith, flydubai’s chief executive officer, said: “Astana is an important addition to flydubai’s network as we continue to grow our presence in Central Asia. Since our launch in Kazakhstan a year ago we now serve three routes in the country, demonstrating our commitment to further enhancing connections to new destinations from Dubai. Travelling to Dubai has never been more convenient and we look forward to providing passengers from the UAE and Kazakhstan with the opportunity to explore both countries.”
 
Flydubai launched services to Kazakhstan in September 2014 with direct links to Almaty and Shymkent. The airline now offers two flights a week to both Astana and Almaty and one flight a week to Shymkent. The launch sees flydubai’s footprint in Central Asia and the Caucasus region expand to nine destinations, with 60 flights a week to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
 
Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice president Commercial (UAE, EU, ME, CIS) for flydubai, added: “This is an exciting time to launch services to the capital of Kazakhstan as both Astana and Dubai are preparing to host the Expo in 2017 and 2020 respectively. We are committed to supporting travel and trade between Kazakhstan and the UAE by offering affordable and flexible services along with Business Class and Cargo operations. Now passengers from Astana will be able to visit multiple destinations in Africa, the Middle East and the Subcontinent throughout the flydubai network.”

Flydubai has launched 16 new destinations since the start of 2015 creating a network of more than 96 routes across 45 countries. It operates a fleet of 50 new Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft with an average age of 3.1 years and has more than 100 new aircraft on order. – TradeArabia News Service