OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2010. Air Astana restored air service to Moscow by taking the strategic decision to deliver its own de-icing fluid for its aircraft at Sheremetyevo International Airport.

Adverse weather conditions in Moscow led to the closure of some major airports forcing many airlines to land at Sheremetyevo. The airport ran out of de-icing fluid on December 26, and Sheremetyevo airport could not provide handling to more than 60 airlines causing flight cancellation of these air carriers.

The national carrier of Kazakhstan has also suffered from the lack of de-icing fluid at Sheremetyevo airport. On December 26th Air Astana was forced to cancel flights KC875 from Almaty to Moscow and KC 876 from Moscow to Almaty. Flights KC873 from Astana to Moscow and KC874 from Moscow to Astana were delayed till 27 December in anticipation that the conditions would improve. However, due to the airport’s continued inability to provide de-icing aircraft maintenance these flights were canceled.

Besides some Air Astana flights were cancelled others were delayed. In order to resume air service from Moscow Air Astana senior management has decided to swap the Airbus A320 with the higher-capacity Boeing 767 aircraft in order to deliver the airline’s own de-icing fluid with KC871 to Moscow. On 27 December at 21.43 Almaty time Boeing 767 took off from the southern capital with 12 tons of de-icing fluid on board, which provided the possibility to take off from Sheremetyevo airport with 200 passengers on board at 2.46 Moscow time.

 “This decision allowed the airline to ensure the processing of its aircraft at Sheremetyevo airport and restore air service to Moscow. The situation was very complicated. Several hundreds passengers were awaiting departure to Moscow, Almaty and Astana. Although provision of de-icing is the responsibility of the airport, we showed great flexibility, and have found a solution through which the passengers were able to make important scheduled meetings and reunite with their families and friends," commented Yerbol Ospanov, Senior Vice President Government, Regulatory Affairs and Security of Air Astana, and Boeing 757/767 Captain.

Air Astana recommends passengers booked on cancelled flights to contact their travel agents or Air Astana Call Centre for rebooking or cancellation/refund. At the same time airline customers are given possibility to use their flights with their originally purchased tickets on routes Almaty – Moscow – Almaty and Astana – Moscow – Astana departing before 9 January 2011. In addition, Air Astana offers its passengers the opportunity to change the point of arrival or departure on flights departing before 9 January, 2010 to/from the Russian Federation, Almaty – Saint Petersburg – Almaty, Astana – Novosibirsk – Astana and  Astana – Yekaterinburg – Astana. Change of reservation within the original ticket value and refund will be processed with no additional charge.
Air Astana apologizes if tickets for requested travel dates are not available and hopes for understanding.