Russia’s Aeroflot resumes its own flights to Kazakhstan

Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo) has said it will resume scheduled flights to Kazakhstan starting February 1, despite the possibility its non-Russian aircraft could be seized while they are there. The Russian flag carrier will start flights to Almaty (3x daily), Astana (Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev, 2x daily), and Atyrau (2x weekly rising to 3x weekly in March), using Airbus A320 Family aircraft, it said. Aeroflot Group already operates between Russia and Kazakhstan through its subsidiary Rossiya (FV, St. Petersburg), the ch-aviation schedules module shows, from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Aktau, Aktobe, Almaty, Astana, Atyrau, Karaganda, and Kostanay, all with Russian-made SSJ 100/95 equipment. Aeroflot has been careful not to operate a substantial part of its fleet to international destinations due to the risk of lessors seizing the aircraft they leased to the carrier, which have been stranded in Russia since sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine. However, an official in Kazakhstan’s government told the US-based Central Asia news specialist Eurasianet that only aircraft which Aeroflot had previously purchased outright from foreign lessors would be allowed to service the flights. “The planes that we will allow to fly into Kazakhstan are purely Russian-owned, so they have been bought out from the leasing companies,” the official said.<br/>