12 March 2008
Thick fog at Almaty Airport affected about 20 "Air
Astana" flights on 7 March. As a consequence of the unfavourable
weather conditions, five flights landed at other airports: Flight KC888
Beijing-Almaty and Flight KC890 Atyrau-Almaty landed at Astana
Airport, Flight 174 Shymkent-Almaty and Flight KC856 Astana-Almaty at
the airpot of Bishkek city, Kyrgyzstan, and Flight KC306 Pavlodar-Almaty
landed at Karaganda Airport. Three flights were postponed until the
following day: Flight KC876 Moscow-Almaty, Flight KC860 Aktau-Almaty,
and Flight KC882 Oral-Almaty.
Berdykhan Agmurov, Control Centre Manager, says: “The
weather at the airport of Almaty city has begun to worsen from
yesterday (6 March). By midnight from 6 March, flight strip area was
heavily fogged, and the minimum visibility was less than 100 m. In line
with requirements of Almaty Airport, the minimum visibility for takeoff
should be 200 m and that for landing should be 350 m. We hope weather
to improve soon”.
Duration of delays varied from two to ten
hours. After the first two hours, hot tea was provided to passengers and
a nursery for those traveling with children under the age of 7. After
the 4 hours of delay, passengers were provided with hot meal, airline
staff were kept informing passengers of the reasons and circumstances
of the delay and made it less an unpleasant experience.
Flights delays are an inconvenience not only to
passengers but also to the airline, due to additional financial costs.
"Air Astana" shares and understands the inconvenience such delays cause
to its passengers and therefore apologises for the current
circumstances!
“Air Astana” is a full member of IATA and the
only airline in Kazakhstan certified for aircrafts maintenance to
European EASA/Part 145 standards.
“Air Astana” JSC is a joint enterprise of the Kazakhstan State Holding
“Samruk” and British company "BAE Systems" with share-holdings of 51%
and 49% respectively.
Currently the “Air Astana” aircraft fleet consists of western aircrafts
such as Boeing B767-300, В757-200, Airbus А321, А320, and Fokker F50.
For additional information, please contact:
PR Department
“Air Astana” JSC
Phone: + 7727 2584135 ext.161
Email: Zhanna.Badaubayeva@airastana.com