Aerospace Diary

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE  »  JANUARY 6, 2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS Air Astana plans to take delivery of a third Boeing 767-300ER this year. (Image: Boeing) January 6, 2014, 1:30 PM Resolved on tapping the booming Central Asian market, global alliances SkyTeam, OneWorld and Star Alliance have approached Kazakhstan national carrier Air Astana with offers to join their ranks. In response, the airline recently commissioned U.S.-based Seabury Group to prepare a report on whether it should enter an alliance “and which one, because all alliances want us to join them,” Air Astana president Peter Foster told  AIN  in Astana recently. “The year 2014 will be a big year for us as we will decide how to structure our medium-haul fleet,” said Foster. “Our first consideration will be range and then costs when we evaluate our options.” Over the past two years Air Astana rolled over virtually its entire fleet, replacing all its...

Peter Foster, President Almaty, 23rd March 2013 To misquote an old sporting cliché, 2012 was a year of two halves. The first half was seriously affected by sluggish demand and high fuel prices, causing year on year profit for the period to drop by 80%, in contrast to the second half which was our best on record, driven by demand recovery, non-fuel savings and greater efficiency of aircraft and crew utilisation. The full year net profit of $61.1 million was identical to that of 2011, marginally ahead of budget and in our view a good result given the pressures on the industry from high fuel prices and weak demand in Europe. Routes to and from the European Union make up 18% of the airline’s international capacity. Total airline revenues grew 15% to $875.5 million on capacity growth of 11%. We carried 3.3 million passengers, an increase of 10%. Whilst net margin slipped from 8 to 7%, it is likely that we will continue to place amongst the world’s 20 most profitable airlines, as we hav...