With the Kazakhstan economy and currency expected to pick up, the airline is looking at an IPO (Initial Public Offering) “between March and Oct 2018,” confirmed Peter Foster, chief executive officer and president in Almaty last week.
Air Astana, official carrier for the mega Expo 2017 being held in Astana from June 10 to September 30, has major plans chalked out for Asia.
With the Kazakhstan economy and currency expected to pick up, the airline is looking at an IPO (Initial Public Offering) “between March and Oct 2018,” confirmed Peter Foster, chief executive officer and president in Almaty last week.
"We're looking at a secondary offering concurrent to a listing in Kazakhstan, either in London, possibly Hong Kong, or Singapore," added Foster.
As economies benefit from cheap fuel and the Tenge value fallen to half, Foster said, “it is a double sword for us. When the economy is fragile, we cannot increase domestic air fares.”
As the domestic market vacillates, plans to increase capacity to China – Air Astana’s third largest market after Russia and Turkey – are underway. Air Astana is expected to use new traffic rights to China to add capacity to its two existing destinations, Beijing and Urumqi. Flights to Chengdu and Shanghai are likely to start in 2017.
“The Indian subcontinent definitely is a big opportunity for us,” said Foster.
The carrier has a codeshare with Air India and Foster said traders from India connecting via Almaty to Tbilisi, Georgia and to Moscow were a big market.
Flights to Tehran will start on June 30, its only international destination this year.
As capital Astana gears up to open a new terminal and increase capacity, it is likely the carrier will shift its Hong Kong flights to Astana from Almaty that is tearing at its seams.
With a mixed fleet of 30, Air Astana’s first of 11 A320Neos will be delivered this year. It has three B787s on order, deliveries for which will start in 2019.
Foster said while adding Singapore to the network was “on a long-term plan being an expensive tourist destination, Malaysia and Thailand are (more likely) tourist destinations for Kazakh people.”