Starting from January 13, 2025, Qazaq Air will begin operating daily regular flights from Astana to Kyzylorda, as reported by a correspondent from the business information center Kapital.kz, citing the press service of the Ministry of Transport.
Flights will be conducted daily according to the following schedule: - IQ 425 Astana (17:50) – Kyzylorda (19:40); - IQ 426 Kyzylorda (20:10) – Astana (22:10).
“The launch of regular daily flights will contribute to the development of the trade and economic, as well as tourist potential of the Kyzylorda region, ensuring the accessibility of transport services, which directly affect the quality of life of the population,” emphasized the airline's official representative, Akbota Orynbaeva.
It was previously reported that Qazaq Air launched two subsidized flights to Turkestan starting January 4, on the routes Kostanay – Turkestan and from January 13 on the route Karaganda – Turkestan. Air travel from Astana to Turkestan is planned to commence on January 13.
Recall that on December 31, 2024, the Samruk-Kazyna Fund signed a share purchase agreement for JSC "Qazaq Air" with a consortium of investors.
“As part of the transfer of JSC “Qazaq Air” into a competitive environment between JSC “Samruk-Kazyna”, the consortium Central Asia Aviation Holdings Limited, which is part of the Vietnamese Sovico Group, and Kazasia Holdings Limited, a package of binding transactional documents, including the purchase agreement, was signed,” the statement indicated.
The transaction will be considered closed, and the shares will be transferred to the investors after all the agreed preliminary conditions are fulfilled.
In May 2024, the Kazakh state fund “Samruk-Kazyna” announced the sale of its subsidiary airline Qazaq Air to the Vietnamese Sovico Group. According to the state holding, the Sovico Group plans to purchase at least 20 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing for Qazaq Air over the next five years, with a maximum goal of acquiring 50 planes. It was announced that the amount of direct foreign investment would exceed $1 billion. The first aircraft from the Vietnamese Sovico Group were expected to replenish Qazaq Air's fleet in 2025. In August, it was stated that the sale of Qazaq Air would be finalized in September of this year. In December, Elzhas Otynshev, co-manager for strategy and asset management and a member of the board of “Samruk-Kazyna”, mentioned that the fund and the government could approve the sale of a controlling stake in the airline by the end of 2024.
It is noteworthy that in mid-August 2023, the “Samruk-Kazyna” fund announced the launch of a sale process for 49-100% of Qazaq Air's shares, with a starting price set at 10.2 billion tenge. The application acceptance was supposed to conclude on September 28, with the results of the two-stage tender planned to be announced on December 15. The application deadline was subsequently extended several times. On November 14, it became known that “Samruk-Kazyna” recognized this tender as unsuccessful. A repeat tender in January 2024 was also deemed unsuccessful.