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16.10.2009. KAZAKHSTAN GRATEFUL FOR ETIHAD SERVICE TO ASTANA
KAZAKHSTAN GRATEFUL FOR ETIHAD SERVICE TO ASTANA
Oct 16, 2009 - 03:53 -
WAM ASTANA, Oct. 16th, 2009: Minister of Tourism and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan Dosmukhambetov Temirkhan Mynaydarovich expressed gratitude for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, for launching its maiden flight to Astana in Kazakhstan from its Abu Dhabi home base last May.
In statements to WAM, Mynaydarovich said the new route is set to further boost economic, business and trade relations between the UAE and Kazakhstan.
UAE′s Etihad′s Abu Dhabi-Astana route also links Astana with Arab countries.
On Thursday May 7th, 2009, Flight EY294 took off from Abu Dhabi and landed on the same day at Astana airport.
Etihad was the first Arab carrier to launch a service to the Kazakh capital which is now served, once a week from Abu Dhabi, with the airline using an Airbus A319 aircraft.
Astana is the second destination in Kazakhstan to be served by Etihad and the airline′s 52nd across its expanding global flight network. The start of the new service follows the launch by Etihad in December 2008 of flights to Almaty, Kazakhstan′s largest city.
Etihad′s current four times a week service to Almaty has been reduced to three times a week in order to facilitate the launch.
Thanks to the timing of the new weekly service, air travelers are now offered convenient onward connections, via Abu Dhabi, onto a significant number of other key destinations across Etihad′s global network, particularly across the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent.
Since gaining independence in October 1990, Kazakhstan has benefited from major foreign investment, particularly in the oil and gas sector which has brought rapid economic growth to the country.
Kazakhstan is already among the world′s top 20 oil producers and expects to be one the world′s top oil exporters in the next decade or two, as foreign investment in new pipelines continues.
The country is expected to pump more than 3.5 million barrels of oil a day in the coming decade. It also has ambitions to pump up to 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year by 2015.
Etihad operates a two-class Airbus A319 configured to carry 110 passengers with 20 seats in business class and 90 in economy class.
For his part, Chairman of Civil Aviation at the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications Radilbek Adimolda said the new Abu Dhabi-Astana route is set to further strengthen the economic, trade, cultural and tourism between the two friendly countries.
He further noted that Etihad has become one of the world′s fastest growing carriers just 5 years after its inception.
Etihad, he said, is qualified to rank as the world′s best carrier.
The Kazakh official said his country is seeking to benefit from Abu Dhabi′s bids to turn into a global investment and leisure and business tourism hub.
He also said Air Astana, Kazakhstan′s internationally established and managed national airline, is seeking further cooperation with Abu Dhabi′s Etihad Airways.
Director of the biggest travel agency in Astana Svitlia Gordon said Etihad services to Astana and Almaty is set to boost business and leisure tourism between the two countries.
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