The airline Qazaq Air has launched two subsidized flights to Turkestan, starting from January 4 on the Kostanay – Turkestan route and from January 13 on the Karaganda – Turkestan route. Additionally, flights from Astana to Turkestan are set to begin on January 13, as reported by a correspondent from the business information center Kapital.kz, citing the press service of the Ministry of Transport.
For the Kostanay – Turkestan route, flights will operate twice a week on Mondays and Saturdays: - IQ 361 Kostanay (15:00) – Turkestan (17:20); - IQ 362 Turkestan (17:50) – Kostanay (20:00).
The cost of the subsidized socially significant flights is 31,000 tenge one way.
For the Karaganda – Turkestan route, flights will also operate twice a week.
On Mondays: - IQ 441 Turkestan (09:50) – Karaganda (11:40); - IQ 442 Karaganda (12:20) – Turkestan (14:00).
On Wednesdays: - IQ 441 Turkestan (12:10) – Karaganda (14:00); - IQ 442 Karaganda (14:40) – Turkestan (16:40).
The cost of the subsidized flights is 20,000 tenge one way.
For the Astana – Turkestan route, flights will operate twice a week.
On Mondays: - IQ 369 Astana (07:05) – Turkestan (09:05); - IQ 370 Turkestan (14:40) – Astana (16:55).
On Wednesdays: - IQ 369 Astana (09:50) – Turkestan (11:40); - IQ 370 Turkestan (17:20) – Astana (19:20).
The cost of a one-way ticket will be 17,000 tenge.
When purchasing tickets for the subsidized flights, children under 14 years old will receive a 50% discount.
It is worth noting that on December 31, 2024, the Samruk-Kazyna Fund signed a purchase agreement for shares of JSC Qazaq Air with a consortium of investors.
"As part of the transfer of JSC Qazaq Air into a competitive environment, a package of binding transaction documents, including a purchase agreement, was signed between JSC Samruk-Kazyna, the consortium Central Asia Aviation Holdings Limited, part of the Vietnamese Sovico Group, and Kazasia Holdings Limited," the statement mentioned.
The deal will be considered closed, and shares will be transferred to the investors after all agreed preliminary conditions are met.
In May 2024, the Kazakh state fund Samruk-Kazyna announced that it was selling its subsidiary airline Qazaq Air to the Vietnamese Sovico Group. According to the state holding, the Sovico Group plans to purchase at least 20 Airbus and Boeing aircraft for Qazaq Air over the next five years, with a goal of acquiring up to 50 aircraft. It was announced that the amount of direct foreign investments would exceed 1 billion dollars. The first aircraft from the Vietnamese Sovico Group were expected to join the Qazaq Air fleet in 2025. In August, it was stated that the sale of Qazaq Air would be finalized in September of that year. In December, the co-manager for strategy and asset management, a member of the board of Samruk-Kazyna, Yelzhas Otynsheev, mentioned that the fund and the government could approve the deal for the sale of the controlling stake in the airline by the end of 2024.
It is important to note that in mid-August 2023, the Samruk-Kazyna Fund announced the launch of a tender for the sale of 49-100% of Qazaq Air shares, with a starting price set at 10.2 billion tenge. The application period was scheduled to end on September 28, with results of the two-stage competition planned to be announced on December 15. Subsequently, the application deadline was extended several times. On November 14, it became known that Samruk-Kazyna declared the competition unsuccessful. A repeated competition in January 2024 was also recognized as unsuccessful.