AIR ASTANA RECORDS US$6.6 MILLION FIRST HALF LOSS

Wednesday 20th July 2016

Air Astana recorded a net loss of $6.6 million, and an operating profit of $0.975 million, for the first half of 2016. Operating revenue fell by 30% to $275 million, driven by a signification devaluation of the Kazakh Tenge in comparison with the first half of 2015, and by weaker regional travel markets in the wake of commodity price falls. Passenger numbers fell by 7% to 1.69 million.

Peter Foster, Air Astana President and CEO commented: "The macro-economic environment has been and continues to be extremely challenging for all airlines operating in the region. However, we have been able to compensate to a large extent for a steep drop in revenue, particularly on domestic routes, by further reducing unit cost and by substantially increasing international transit traffic between Europe and Asia. The interim result is therefore better than expected under the circumstances. Prospects for the rest of the year remain uncertain. However, there are signs that regional economies are adjusting to structurally lower commodity prices. Further development of transit business over our Astana and Almaty hubs continues to be a priority."

Air Astana recently launched flights between Almaty and Tehran, and will take delivery of its first Airbus A320Neo later this year.

Last week at the international Farnborough Air Show Air Astana was awarded the Skytrax accolade of "Best Airline Central Asia and India" for the fifth consecutive year and "Best Airline Staff Service in Central Asia/India," for the fourth time.

 About Air Astana

Air Astana commenced scheduled flight operations on 15th May 2002 and currently operates a network of over 60 international and domestic routes from hubs in Almaty and Astana. Air Astana's fleet of 30 aircraft includes Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 family and Embraer E-190 types.

The carrier will take delivery of 11 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, including four A321 LR between 2016-2019 and three Boeing 787 in 2019. Air Astana became the first carrier from Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (the CIS) and Eastern Europe to be awarded the prestigious 4-Star rating by Skytrax at its World Airline Awards 2012 and was also named The Best Airline in Central Asia and India that year. Both achievements were repeated in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. In February 2015, Air Astana received the prestigious Market Leader Award from influential industry publication, Air Transport World.

The EU lifted all operational restrictions on Air Astana in December 2015.

Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan's national wealth fund, Samruk Kazyna, and BAE Systems from the UK, with respective shares of 51% and 49%.

www.airastana.com