AIR ASTANA CELEBRATES SKYTRAX SUCCESS FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Tuesday 12th July 2016

Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, continues to be recognised for service excellence, with this year's Skytrax World Airline Awards event seeing a 4 Star rating, "The Best Airline in Central Asia and India" award being achieved for the fifth consecutive year and "The Best Airline Staff Service in Central Asia/India" for the fourth time. The prestigious awards ceremony took place at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom today.

The Skytrax World Airline Awards are recognised throughout the world as a valued benchmarking tool that measures passenger satisfaction among business and leisure travellers, across all cabins (First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy Class and Economy class).

Air travellers were surveyed by telephone, questionnaires and online about their experiences with airlines on the ground and in the air over a 10 month period. The survey measured passenger satisfaction across a wide range of performance indicators of airline front-line product and service, including check-in, boarding, on-board seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, food, beverages, in-flight entertainment and staff service.

The survey covered over 200 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers.

"Every one of our staff is dedicated to consistently providing service excellence and therefore we are honoured to receive these prestigious Skytrax awards for the fifth consecutive year," said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana. "We continue to deeply appreciate the enormous support shown by our customers in the Skytrax survey and will continue to strive for even higher standards in the future."

Air Astana celebrated 14 years of successful and safe operation in May 2016. During the preceding 12 months, the airline reported a record increase in net profits for 2015; launched new services to Georgia, South Korea and the UK; signed codeshare agreements with Air France-KLM, Bangkok Airways and Hong Kong Airlines and launched the innovative MyUpgrade product.

Air Astana operates one of the youngest fleets in the world, with existing Airbus A320, Embraer 190 and Boeing 757/767 aircraft having an average age of only seven years. The airline will take delivery of the first of eleven Airbus A320 Neo aircraft during the second half of 2016. Another new aircraft innovation appearing later this year will be the introduction of on-board Wi-Fi on the Boeing 767 fleet. The airline's existing network grew to 65 routes following the launch of a new service from Almaty to Tehran, capital of Iran at the end of June.