JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Cham Wings, a Syrian private airline, flew the first scheduled passenger flight from Damascus to Yerevan for four years. Cham Wings has said it intends to fly the route every week. There are no plans to restart the Yerevan- Aleppo route. On board the Cham Wings flight were 100 passengers, mainly Syrians of Armenian descent.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan Air has asked China’s Hainan Airlines to buy a 49% stake in the company, media reported. It had said earlier in the year that it wanted to sell off a 49% stake but didn’t say to whom. China, which has been investing heavily in Central Asia, was the obvious option. Hainan Airlines has not commented.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan Airlines has taken ownership of another Boeing 737- 800 airplane, the state news agency reported, in line with a previously arranged deal. In 2014, before the collapse in gas prices that underpins its economy, Turkmenistan ordered six new Boeing aircrafts under an ambitious plan to revamp Turkmenistan Airlines.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
JUNE 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ordered officials in Tashkent to build a new airport from scratch, apparently dropping plans to build a new terminal for international flights at the current airport. The decree, did not say when the new airport would be completed or how much it would cost.
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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)
ASTANA, JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s national airline, Air Astana, is likely to launch its international IPO on the London Stock Exchange, CEO Peter Foster said at the Astana Economic Forum.
Air Astana and other state-owned companies that the Kazakh government wants to privatise are legally bound to list on the new Astana Stock Exchange, which will open next year, but the destination of a secondary foreign listing has been the focus of debate. Stock exchanges in Shanghai, Dubai and Singapore have all been touted as possible venues for Air Astana, although London has always been favourite.
“The foreign exchange is likely to be London,” Mr Foster told an audience during an AEF session focused on privatisation.
“The window for an IPO will open in Q3 2018.”
Currently, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kayna owns 51% of Air Astana and BAE Systems owns a 49% stake.
Mr Foster later told the Bulletin that BAE Systems wanted the foreign IPO in London. The aim of the IPO is to double the size of the fleet over the next decade to around 65 planes.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Irkut, the Russian airplane maker, said that it had signed up three companies to buy its new medium- haul passenger aircraft MC-21, including Air Kyrgyzstan . The aircraft, which only completed its maiden flight on May 29, is supposed to be Russia’s answer to the Airbus and Boeing planes. The other companies that have, according to the manufacturers, agreed to buy the MC-21 are Russian airlines Aeroflot and Utair. Separately, Zhamshitbek Kalilov, the Kyrgyz transport minister said Air Kyrgyzstan would buy three new plane to fly on domestic routes.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Privately owned SCAT Air has won permission from the Kazakh industry ministry to start direct flights to Saudi Arabia, media reported. There are currently no direct flights between Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. Kazakh officials and businessmen have said that they are keen to boost relations with Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. SCAT Air will also start operating flights to Yerevan from Pavlodar, Shymkent and Almaty this summer, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)
MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will sell stakes in Air Astana, oil and gas company Kazmunaigas and its state nuclear agency Kazatomprom by the end of 2019 at the latest, Kazakh Finance Minister Bakhyt Sultanov told Reuters. The new deadline appears to be an extension of previous estimates given which said that Kazakhstan would sell stakes in major companies owned by the state before the end of 2017.
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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)
APRIL 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air China said that it will start operating a direct flight between Beijing and Astana from June 1, highlighting the growth in the number of airlines flying directly to Kazakhstan. The route will help strengthen links between China and Kazakhstan. Air Astana already flies an Astana – Beijing service. Astana Airport is opening new passenger terminal too next month which will be able to process more passengers.
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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)
MAY 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — State-owned Uzbekistan Airways carried 563,100 passengers in Q1 2017, a 5.1% increase from the same period in 2016, it said in a statement. The increase in passenger numbers is a reflection of a new policy to invest in new aircraft and new routes. Uzbekistan Airways also said that it carried nearly 25% more cargo in Q1 2017 compared to Q1 2016.
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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)
