Air Astana JSC, the leading airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus regions by revenue and fleet size, announced its results for the second quarter and six months ended 30th June today, 6th August.
The company reported strong growth and continued focus on yield management throughout the first half of the year, resulting in a 24.1 percent increase in EBITDAR.
According to airline chief executive Peter Foster: “We continue to perform strongly with rising revenues and improved margins in H1, driving growth of 24.1 percent in EBITDAR and 132 percent in PAT. This is underpinned by an increase in both capacity and traffic of 17.8 percent and 17.3 percent respectively, despite the widely publicised macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges. Our performance highlights once again the benefits of our central location and agile approach as we successfully optimised costs and allocated capacity to our key markets to maximise margins. We continue to balance unit revenues and costs due to the effectiveness of our ongoing efficiency measures and the natural currency hedge within the business.”
Foster pointed out that the increase in passenger numbers alongside capacity demonstrates the demand for Air Astana’s new routes across the fastest-growing regions in Asia, particularly the megamarkets of India and China, as it is currently the only airline that offers true connectivity with the CIS region.
Air Astana’s recently signed codeshare agreement with China Southern Airlines is another important step in further developing such connectivity.
Fleet expansion
Following the departure of its final E2, Air Astana’s fleet now consists of 61 aircraft, made up entirely of Airbus A320 family and Boeing 767s.
This is the Group’s simplest fleet structure since 2003.
Foster said: “Combined with our investment in our in-house MRO and ground service capabilities we have increased our resilience, improved our passenger experience and enhanced the Group’s efficiency. These new capabilities and additional capacity have enabled us to demonstrate our resilience in the management of the ongoing industry wide Pratt and Whitney GTF engine challenges.”
The Company remains very confident in both the outlook for 2025 and the Group’s medium-term prospects. I would like to personally thank all of my colleagues at Air Astana for their hard work in delivering this performance and look forward to updating the market on our medium-term strategy and ambitions at our Capital Markets Day in September 2025.”
At present, the Air Astana Group is well positioned for the peak summer season with ASK 17.8 percent higher than in H1-2024 and 20 new routes launched during H1 2025.
Notwithstanding the Pratt & Whitney engine issues, which continue to be proactively managed through the Group’s mitigation plan and policy of dynamic capacity allocation, the Group retains a positive outlook for the summer.
Highlights from H1-2025
- Total revenue and other income increased 12.1% to USD 658.2 million (H1 2024: USD 587.2 million).
- EBITDAR increased 24.1% to USD 157.0 million (H1 2024: USD 126.5 million). EBITDAR margin improved by 2.3 pp to 23.9% (H1 2024: 21.6%).
- PAT increased 131.9% to USD 10.7 million (H1 2024: USD 4.6 million).
- ASK up 17.8% to 10.3 billion (H1 2024: 8.7 billion).
- RPK increased 17.3% to 8.4 billion (H1 2024: 7.1 billion).
- Unit revenues continue to be managed ahead of unit cost inflation, extending the positive trend from Q4 2024, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Group’s ongoing efficiency measures and natural currency hedge.
- RASK decreased 4.9% to USD 6.41¢ (H1 2024: 6.74¢).
- CASK decreased 6.2% to USD 5.97¢ (H1 2024: 6.36¢).
- Group passengers carried increased 11.6% to 4.5 million (H1 2024: 4.0 million) with a stable average load factor of 81.7% (H1 2024: 82.0%).
- Group fleet expanded to 61 aircraft with the delivery of six A320 family aircraft.
Highlights from Q2-2025
Throughout the second quarter, Air Astana noted robust revenue growth and double-digit EBITDAR expansion, underscoring increasing demand, cost efficiency and operational resilience
- Total revenue and other income increased 13.5% to USD 365.8 million (Q2 2024: USD 322.4 million).
- EBITDAR increased 17.2% to USD 97.1 million (Q2 2024: USD 82.8 million). EBITDAR margin improved by 0.8 pp to 26.5% (Q2 2024: 25.7%).
- PAT increased 11.0% to USD 18.0 million (Q2 2024: USD 16.2 million).
- ASK up 21.7% to 5.6 billion (Q2 2024: 4.6 billion).
- RPK increased 20.4% to 4.6 billion (Q2 2024: 3.8 billion).
- Despite the impact of geopolitical uncertainty, unit revenues and costs remain well-balanced, reflecting operational resilience.
- RASK decreased 6.8% to USD 6.57¢ (Q2 2024: 7.05¢) largely driven by local currency depreciation.
- CASK decreased 6.5% to USD 5.87¢ (Q2 2024: 6.27¢) due to efficiency measures as well as the reduction in Tenge denominated costs and lower fuel costs.
- Group passengers carried increased 15.6% to 2.5 million (Q2 2024: 2.2 million) with average load factor remaining stable at 81.9% (Q2 2024: 82.8%).
