By Aviacionline
Air Astana Secures Three Additional Boeing 787-9 from Air Lease Corporation
Air Lease Corporation announced long-term lease placements for three new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan. The aircraft are scheduled to deliver to Air Astana beginning in early 2025 through spring 2026 from ALC’s order book with Boeing.
“We are pleased to announce this lease placement for three new Boeing 787-9 aircraft with Air Astana today,” said Steven Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of Air Lease Corporation. “These three ALC Dreamliner aircraft will greatly enhance Air Astana’s long-range capabilities and passenger comfort as the airline expands international routes from Kazakhstan.”
“ALC is honored to announce this lease placement with longtime customer Air Astana and be a part of the airline’s fleet modernization program by adding three highly efficient new Boeing 787-9 aircraft to Air Astana’s fleet,” added Alex Khatibi, Executive Vice President of Air Lease Corporation.
“The Boeing 787-9 is an important aircraft to Air Astana’s fleet modernization as we expand our routes and focus on passenger experience,” said Peter Foster, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Astana. “The Dreamliner offers fuel-efficiency and range flexibility that will greatly add to our current fleet operations.”
Air Astana is updating its current fleet and the 787 will replace the three 8-year-old Boeing 767-300s that is operating for its twin aisle, long-haul routes. Initially, the 787s were set to be delivered in 2017 but economic conditions pushed the entry into service to 2019.
The carrier has also released two Embraer E190 to the market, which were taken by Dominican carrier Sky High. The Caribbean company expects to end 2022 with four E190s former operated by the Kazakh operator. The E190s will be replaced by a significant order of 30 Boeing 737 MAX Air Astana closed in November 2019.
The airline operates scheduled domestic and international services from its main hub, Almaty International Airport, and from its secondary hubs, Nur-sultan Nazarbayev International Airport, Atyrau Airport, and Aktau Airport. The Air Astana Group operates a fleet of forty aircraft with an average age of 5.2 years split between Air Astana, its full-service airline established in 2002, and FlyArystan, its low-cost airline established in 2019.
This article was originally published by Redacción on Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks.
