ALMATY — Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, Air Astana (KC) has announced that it will enter a codeshare partnership with Air India (AI) to strengthen cooperation on key routes between Kazakhstan and India.

“We are delighted to have concluded a comprehensive codeshare agreement with Asia’s oldest airline. Air India is an exceptionally well-managed business which operates a comprehensive network of flights to, from, and across India, the world’s most populous country and one of the fastest-growing travel markets. India is of key strategic importance to the Air Astana Group as we increase flights from Kazakhstan to Delhi, Mumbai, and Goa. The codeshare will accelerate the increasingly strong business, tourist, and student traffic flows between our two countries.”  Air Astana Group’s CEO, Peter Foster, said.

The agreement will cover KC’s services between Almaty (ALA) and Delhi (DEL) as well as between Almaty and Mumbai (BOM). Under the agreement, Air India will place its designator code on Air Astana-operated flights, allowing KC to offer customers greater connectivity and convenience for travel between the two countries.

“Our new codeshare partnership with Air Astana creates stronger air links to Kazakhstan, a fast-growing market with immense tourism potential. Beyond serving leisure travel demand, our partnership will also support trade and cultural exchanges between our two countries, while bringing a new destination in Central Asia closer to our customers.” Air India’s CEO, Campbell Wilson, said.

Building on Interline Agreement

In fact, this codeshare agreement builds on an existing interline partnership between KC and AI, which was entered into earlier this year. 

Under the agreement, KC’s customers already enjoy convenient connections via Delhi and Mumbai to 18 destinations across India, as well as nine international destinations served by AI. 

Simultaneously, AI’s passengers have access to KC’s route network through Almaty, connecting to destinations in Central Asia and China, including Astana (NQZ) in Kazakhstan, Bishkek (BSZ) in Kyrgyzstan, Tashkent (TAS) in Uzbekistan, Dushanbe (DYU) in Tajikistan, and Urumqi (URC) in China.