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Air Astana honours its 10 millionth passenger

9th September 2009 Print
On September 4 2009, Air Astana announced the name of the 10 millionth passenger, Saule Isabekova from Shymkent. The lucky woman was declared when checking-in for the flight KC 972 on itinerary Shymkent - Almaty, where she flew to meet her family. She was awarded with a certificate, but these surprises were not over.

For the 10-millionth passenger this was a special day. In gratitude for the trust to the airline, Saule experienced high quality of service and comfort of first class. Instead of economic class, which she usually flies, she was given the opportunity to make a flight in business class, and was offered champagne and a large assortment of hot dishes and snacks, as well as variety of wines and soft drinks.

Since the flight for the national airline was historical, all the passengers received souvenirs.

10-millionth passenger on arrival to Almaty she was met by representatives of JSC Air Astana with flowers and gifts. Also, media representatives attended celebration ceremony. Ibrahim Canliel, vice-president of Air Astana airline, solemnly handed her two round trip business-class tickets in any direction, which served by the national carrier.

In addition, she was presented a musical gift performed by the renowned singer, Nurlan Abdulin. After the ceremony Saule a snow-white limousine was expecting for her outside the airport and which took her home.

“Today is a landmark in the history of the airline. In the seven years of its existence, we carried 10 million passengers, which reflect successful and dynamic development of the national carrier.

“Among the other achievements airlines I should note transition to electronic tickets, the introduction of Nomad Club, bonus programs, and development of its sales network in cities where the airline serves flights to and the recognition of the website as the best website in Kazakhstan in the category ‘E-commerce’.

“Our success is the result of trust given to us by our passengers. And we want to thank our customers for choosing our airline and in particular our 10-millionth passenger, which was determined by random sampling by our automated registration system,” commented Canliel Ibrahim, Vice-President of JSC Air Astana.

Since its inception Air Astana shows a steady growth of passenger traffic, on both domestic and international routes. In 2002, the airline benefited from the services of 164 126 passengers, in 2003 -346 930 passengers, 834 760 - in 2004, in 2005, this figure has crossed the mark of 1 million 148 thousand people, in 2006 Air Astana carried 1 468 741 passengers. In 2007, the figure was 2,132,433 people in 2008 - 2, 3 million people. And in the first half of 2009 we carried 1239913 passengers.

Air Astana is a fully-fledged member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the only airline in Kazakhstan certified to perform the maintenance of aircraft to EASA Part-145 European standards.

Air Astana is a joint venture of the Samruk-Kazyna national welfare fund and the British company BAE Systems, which own 51% and 49% of actions respectively.

Air Astana’s fleet currently consists of the Boeing 767-300, the Boeing 757-200, the Airbus A321, A320 and A319 and the Fokker-50.