OREANDA-NEWS. September 05, 2012. Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s Skytrax award winning flag carrier, operated the first flight from Almaty to Hong Kong today, with the new direct service bringing a host of previously remote destinations in Central Asia, Caucasus and southern Russia closer to Asia’s most dynamic business and financial centre. Flights will initially be operated twice weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays) using a Boeing 757 configured in a 16 business class/150 economy class configuration. The duration of the Almaty to Hong Kong flight is 6 hours 10 minutes, whilst Hong Kong to Almaty flight is 7 hours 10 minutes, reported the press-centre of Air Astana.

Air Astana offers connecting flights from Almaty to nine domestic destinations including the capital Astana and Atyrau on the Caspian sea, as well as regional services to cities including Baku (Azerbaijan), Dushanbe (Tajikistan), Kazan (Russia), Novosibirsk (Russia), St Petersburg (Russia), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Tbilisi (Georgia) and Yekaterinburg (Russia). Hong Kong is Air Astana’s sixth long haul destination in Asia, with existing services operating to Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Besides connections on its own network, Air Astana also offers multiple options with its partner airlines through Hong Kong, one of the major Asian hubs.

“Air Astana is in the midst of its 10th anniversary celebrations and I’m delighted to add this pioneering direct service to Hong Kong from Central Asia to our achievements this year. Alpine Almaty and dynamic Hong Kong are both exciting destinations and with visa free travel for HKSAR/Kazakhstan passport holders, I’m confident about strong traffic growth amongst both business and leisure travellers”, said Peter Foster, President of Air Astana. “Skytrax recently awarded Air Astana a 4-Star rating and named it Best Airline, Central Asia and India, so passengers on the Hong Kong route can look forward to very high standards of service”.