According to the administration of the Air Astana, company Air Astana has switched to its 2023 spring-summer schedule.

From the summer period, the flights between Tbilisi and Almaty will be operated daily.

As of June starts a seasonal service between Batumi and Almaty 5 times a week and Tbilisi-Astana 3 times a week on a comfortable Airbus A320/A321.

"Air Astana has switched to a spring-summer operating schedule effective from 26th March to 29th October 2023and during this period will steadily increase the number of international flights.

Services from Almaty to Antalya (Turkey) will be increased to ten flights a week, whilst those from Astana will increase to seven services a week. Almaty to Tbilisi (Georgia) services will be increased by seven flights a week, those from Astana to Tbilisi increased by three flights a week. Almaty to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) up to fourteen flights a week and Astana-Tashkent to five flights a week. Almaty to London service will be increased up to five times a week, and Almaty to Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) to nine flights a week. In addition to a weekly flight to Chengdu, Air Astana will serve Beijing daily from Almaty and up to twice a week from Astana. Almaty to Istanbul will be served eleven flights a week, whilst those from Astana up to seven flights a week and from Atyrau three flights a week. Services from Almaty to Baku (Azerbaijan) and Dushanbe (Tajikistan) will be increased to up to four flights per week.

The spring-summer operating schedule also includes the relaunch of seasonal services between Almaty to Bodrum (Turkey) and Heraklion (Greece), as well as those from Almaty and Astana to Podgorica (Montenegro), operating three times a week, and from Almaty to Batumi (Georgia) operating five times a week. Air Astana will also continue operating direct daily flights to Thailand with three times a week flights from Almaty to Bangkok and four times to Phuket.

Detailed flight schedule information and ticket purchase can be undertaken at the Air Astana website, ticketing offices, call-center and IATA accredited travel agencies" - reported in a company press release. 

The President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov arrived in Astana on Friday morning, the press service of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov reports. The Prime Minister met the Turkmen leader at the international airport of the capital of Kazakhstan.

It is expected that today Serdar Berdimuhamedov will take part in the Council of Heads of CIS member states, and in the afternoon – in the summit "Central Asia-Russia".

On October 15, within the framework of the first state visit of the President of Turkmenistan to Kazakhstan, negotiations with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev are planned in narrow and expanded formats, with the participation of government delegations of the two countries.

Following the results of the bilateral summit, joint documents are expected to be signed.

Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, has received prestigious Skytrax awards for “Best Airline in Central Asia and CIS” for the tenth time and “Best Service in Central Asia and CIS” for the first time. Awards were presented to all winners at a Skytrax Awards ceremony in London today.

“Since it was launched 20 years ago, Air Astana steadily built a reputation for safety, efficiency and outstanding customer service. We are once again honoured to receive  awards from Skytrax today, which perfectly reflect our commitment to the very highest standards  of excellence and recognition from our devoted passengers. I would like to thank every one of our almost six thousand staff for their professionalism and dedication on this proud occasion,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana.

"Air Astana is celebrating its tenth win this year. The airline's management and employees should be proud of this success and of winning the award for Best Airline and Best Service in Central Asia and CIS. The past two years have been very challenging for the aviation industry; therefore, this award confirms the high quality service that Air Astana continues to provide to its customers,” said Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax Awards.

Winners of Skytrax Awards are determined through an annual passenger survey. More than 300 airlines were evaluated between September 2021 and August 2022. More than 14 million people from 100 nationalities participated in this survey in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. Survey participants rated the airline's website, check-in and boarding procedures, cabin cleanliness, IFE, crew appearance and service, food quality, comfort of seats and more.

Air Astana received the Skytrax "Best Airline in Central Asia and India" award for the first time in 2011 and this was followed a year later by being the first airline in the CIS and Eastern Europe to receive a four-star Skytrax award. From 2013 to 2015, Air Astana was awarded the Skytrax Award for “Best Service in Central Asia and India” and in 2021, it was certified by Skytrax for COVID-19.