Nazarbayev commissions domestic airlines to launch flights to U.S., Japan

ASTANA. KAZINFORM Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev has set a new task to the domestic airlines at today's governmental meeting, Kazinform reports.

The President commissioned them (primarily Air Astana) to launch flights to the U.S. and Japan.

He stressed this objective must be fulfilled till the yearend.

Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Zhenis Kassymbek reported to the President on the results achieved in aviation.

"We observe positive growth in civil aviation. The number of transit passengers has increased from 20,000 in 2010 to 900,000 in 2018. We expect that in 2020 this figure will comprise 1.6mn. At your instruction, we are planning to open FlyArystan low-cost airline in H1 2018. And we plan to transport as many as 1mn passengers this year," the Minister noted.