CEO of Kazakhstan's full-service carrier Air Astana, Peter Foster on Wednesday said that the airline is extremely proud to have played a significant role in connecting India and Kazakhstan by its initiatives taken for growth in business.
"India is an important destination on Air Astana's network. We are proud to have played a significant role in connecting business as well as leisure passengers from Kazakhstan to India over the past 13 years," said company president and CEO Peter Foster addressing the media in New Delhi.
"New Delhi is a great new destination for us and we expect to carry both business travellers and holidaymakers between the two capitals, and also between India and cities in Russia and other countries on our network to and from Astana," added Foster while speaking at an event to celebrate 13 years of connecting India and Eurasia.
He also announced the airline's plans to start daily flights from New Delhi to Almaty and Astana and Mumbai by 2019.
"80 percent of our business is from outside India. We would like to address this gap as India has great business potential," Foster said.
The airline which is the first carrier in Central Asia to obtain the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) in 2007, currently operates 10 weekly flights between Kazakhstan and India, consisting of a daily service between Almaty and New Delhi and three frequencies between Astana and New Delhi.
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Meanwhile, travel between India and Kazakhstan countries continues to grow.
The total number of passengers carried between Kazakhstan and India during 2017 reached 43 459, an increase of 43 percent compared to 2016.
"The Indian traveler is quite generous in terms of spending. We see the Indian market as a leisure destination," concluded Foster.
Also present at the event were the Kazakhan Ambassador to India, Bulat Sarsenbayev; Director, Umrao Group, Virendra Teotia; and Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, G.V.Srinivas.
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