Air Astana boosts Urumqi flights
Air Astana will boost flights to the city of Urumqi, in western China’s Xinjiang region.
From 1 August 2012, Kazakhstan’s national carrier will increase the frequency of its Almaty-Urumqi route from three times a week to daily, while services from the Kazakh capital Astana to Urumqi will increase from twice to four times a week from 17 September 2012.
All 11 weekly services to Urumqi will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring 16 seats in business class and 132 in economy.
“Flights from Kazakhstan to Urumqi… have proven to be very popular with both businessmen and tourists over the past three years,” said Ibrahim Canliel, Air Astana’s Vice President of Marketing & Sales. “By increased services and consequent connectivity we aim to offer a new gateway between Urumqi and our expanding network to Russia, Central Asia, Turkey and Caucasus.”
The Astana-Urumqi flight takes two hours and 20 minutes, while Almaty-Urumqi takes one hour 40 minutes.
Air Astana currently offers flights to two Chinese cities, Urumqi and Beijing, with services to Hong Kong expected to get underway later this year.