Air Astana made this announcement:

Air Astana Group experienced strong passenger growth in 2022, with 3.9 million passengers carried during the first seven months of the year, which represents a 9% increase over the same period in 2021.  The network continued to expand with the resumption of flights to destinations including London and Istanbul, together with the launch of new services to Greece. In the coming months, frequencies to Dubai, Delhi and Phuket will be significantly increased and services to Bangkok will be resumed, which represents a significant step in re-building the Asian network.

With the future outlook continuing to be positive and the Group fully committed to expanding the fleet to 59 aircraft by 2025, it also recognises the need to commensurately develop capabilities in training and maintenance.

Air Astana Group fleet developments during the remainder of 2022 will see Air Astana take delivery of two more Airbus A321LR aircraft, bringing the total to 10, whilst the LCC division, FlyArystan will add three more Airbus A320neo aircraft, bringing the total fleet up to 4. Air Astana Group added 13 new aircraft between mid-2020 and March 2022, with a further 24 aircraft due to join the fleet by mid 2025. This fleet modernisation process will see some older aircraft being gradually replaced.

The Group’s flight crew training capability will be significantly expanded with the opening of a new centre costing US$10 million in Nur-Sultan later this year. The training centre will be equipped with a first in the country full flight simulator, which will not only improve pilot training efficiency, but also help alleviate the need for expensive training outside Kazakhstan and save up to US$18 million over the next 10 years. The Group is also planning to expand its in-house maintenance capability at regional bases in the near future. These two developments ensure that Air Astana will remain a regional leader in terms of crew training and engineering services.

“Air Astana has rapidly recovered despite an unprecedented series operational challenges this year, with passenger traffic up 9% and seat capacity up marginally between January and July compared to the same period last year,” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana Group. ”Given the strong expectation of continued growth in both international and domestic markets in the future, it is now timely for the Group to be significantly expanding the fleet, together with investing in new pilot training and maintenance facilities, to achieve long-term goals.”

Air Astana aircraft photo gallery:

Air Astana has suspended all flights to Russia.

The reason is “due the withdrawal of insurance coverage for commercial flights to, from and over the Russian Federation”.

Bottom line: The carrier can no longer afford to fly to Russia.

Air Astana will restore the Nur-Sultan – London Heathrow route on March 12.

Air Astana has completely restored its route network and to 15 domestic and 30 international destinations.

The state of emergency in Kazakhstan affected the Air Astana Group operations, with 178 international and 621 domestic flights by Air Astana and FlyArystan being cancelled between January 5th and 12th, 2022.

Flights from Nur-Sultan and other regional Kazakh cities were resumed on January 7, 2022, with those from Almaty restarting on January 13, 2022.

Since the resumption of international flights, more than 7,500 passengers returned to their home countries, with scheduled flights to Istanbul, Antalya, Dubai, Sharjah, Kyiv, Moscow, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Saint-Petersburg, Frankfurt, Tashkent and Kutaisi, together with special repatriation flights from the Maldives, Phuket, Colombo, Antalya, Tbilisi, Baku and Goa.

The airports serving Almaty, Aktobe and Aktau have suspended operations due to domestic unrest and protests in Kazakhstan.

Protesters seized Almaty Airport.

Websites for the airlines of Kazakhstan are currently not working.

More from the BBC:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59880166

Air Astana has a filed a lawsuit in New York against Embraer to “recover damages suffered by Air Astana after it was constrained to suspend operations of a fleet of regional jet aircraft manufactured by Embraer, leaving a fleet of brand-new aircraft parked and empty on the ground, because those planes were unsafe to fly.”

The lawsuit continues:

“3. The aircraft at issue are five Embraer E190-300 regional jet aircraft (each, an “E2,” and, collectively, the “E2s”). The first of the E2s was delivered to Air Astana in November 2018, by and through a lease agreement from AerCap Ireland Capital Designated Activity Company (“AerCap”).

4. E2s operated by Air Astana have experienced complex, in-flight failures that transferred across the aircrafts’ operating systems. Those sorts of multiple, linked system failures are sometimes colloquially called “cascading” failures. The unacceptable in-flight issues described below, including the cascading failures described in detail, constituted compensable breaches of obligations owed to Air Astana.

5. The incidents described below significantly diminish an E2’s safety profile and created unacceptable risk to the aircraft and its occupants. Each required the respective Air Astana flight crews to engage in highly complex recovery actions in order to ensure that the Embraermanufactured aircraft could land safely.

6. The dangerous circumstances were exacerbated by the geographic and topographic environment in which Embraer knew the E2s would operate: Kazakhstan, Air Astana’s home market, covers more than one million square miles, with treacherous terrain and challenging weather. It has only 19 airports that can accommodate large commercial aircraft and thus few and widely-spaced emergency landing options.

7. Air Astana promptly notified Embraer that the E2s had demonstrated an unreasonable and unprecedented propensity to experience unpredictable and dangerous system failures. Embraer – ultimately – acknowledged that each failure was the result of either (i) design or engineering flaws (unknown even to Embraer at the time it delivered the E2s), or (ii) Embraer’s prior failure to document novel systems or routines in the training and operation materials which it produced and delivered to Air Astana. Air Astana has been forced to suspend operations of the E2s since December 15, 2020, and has incurred significant expenses (including lease payments to AerCap) in respect of aircraft that could not operate safely.

8. Air Astana seeks compensatory damages for: (i) Embraer’s willful contractual breaches, having warranted the E2s as airworthy and free from inherent design defects when it knew or should have known that they were not; (ii) Embraer’s grossly negligent and willful misconduct in manufacturing, marketing and supplying Air Astana (through a lessor) the dangerously-flawed E2s; and (iii) Embraer’s continued reckless indifference to the lives of Air Astana’s flight crews and passengers, evidenced by Embraer’s inexplicable and frankly dangerous refusal to take the remedial action that would have allowed Air Astana promptly to resume commercial operation of the E2s. Had Embraer comported itself as a responsible manufacturer, the suspension of E2 operations would have been materially shorter, or perhaps avoided altogether.”