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Air Astana awarded the prestigious 4-Star rating in the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2012

07 June 2012 08:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. Air Astana has become the first carrier from Russia /CIS /Eastern Europe to be awarded the prestigious 4-Star rating in the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2012. Kazakhstanâ€™s international flag carrier now ranks amongst the worldâ€™s best airlines for passenger service, with other 4-Star rated airlines including British Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, Qantas and Thai Airways.

Air Astana first won a Skytrax 3-Star rating in 2009 and was also ranked second amongst carriers for the â€œBest Airline: Eastern Europeâ€ award in 2011.

Skytraxâ€™s star rating audit examines more than 800 different areas of product and service delivery for each airline, where the ratings range from 1-Star to 5-Star. Most of the worldâ€™s best known airlines are rated either 3 or 4-Stars, with only five airlines currently rated as 5-Star.

â€œAir Astana proudly marked its 10th anniversary with a major network expansion last month and this prestigious 4-Star rating from Skytrax serves to further demonstrate the remarkable progress the carrier has made over the past decade. Award winning passenger service, new aircraft and an exciting new range of destinations are turning 2012 into a remarkable anniversary year for Air Astana,â€ said Peter Foster, President of Air Astana. â€œCongratulations to all our dedicated and enthusiastic service delivery staff for their outstanding achievement.â€

Air Astana commenced regular flight operations on 15th May 2002 and currently operates a network of almost 50 international and domestic routes from hubs in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau. Air Astana flies an all western fleet comprising of two Boeing 767s, five Boeing 757s, ten Airbus A320s, four Embraer 190s and five Fokker 50s. Air Astana is a full member of the International Air Transport Association and was the first airline in Kazakhstan to achieve EASA Part 145 aircraft maintenance certification. In September 2011, Air Astana passed its third annual IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), without any findings.

Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstanâ€™s national wealth fund Samruk Kazyna and BAE Systems, with respective shares of 51% and 49%.