Air Astana and China Southern Airlines signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to increase air connectivity between Kazakhstan and China, opening up travel options and enhancing the overall passenger journey. The deal is the first airline joint venture between the two countries and follows the carriers' existing codeshare partnership, opening the door to closer commercial co-operation.

The arrangement is meant to enable the two airlines to coordinate their flight schedules, expand their codeshare services and launch joint marketing efforts. The carriers seek to more closely match their respective networks and commercial operations to provide passengers with more convenient journeys, smoother connections, greater consistency in travel conditions and better access to destinations across Kazakhstan, China and beyond.

The pact is coming at a time when air traffic between the two countries is on the rise. Deputy Minister of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Lastayev said that the number of flights increased by 52 per cent as compared with the same period of 2025. The network now includes 117 weekly scheduled flights on 21 routes, with over one million passengers having flown between the two countries since the beginning of 2026.

Kazakhstan plans to capitalize on this momentum and increase its air network with China to 30 destinations, Lastayev confirmed.

The deal strengthens Air Astana’s strategic position as an aviation gateway between Europe and Asia for Kazakhstan. Richard Ledger, vise president of partnerships and alliances at Air Astana, called China a strategically important market for the carrier, saying the partnership has the potential to further cement its commercial relationship with one of China’s leading airlines.

He said the two carriers have complementary networks and the key elements of their commercial offerings are aligned, and that should give passengers more choices, better connections and more consistency in conditions and rules of travel. The closer relationship is also expected to help both airlines to respond more effectively to passenger demand and to sustain the growth of air travel between the two countries.

China Southern Airlines also believes that the deal is an important step for the development of regional aviation. “China and Kazakhstan are important partners under the Belt and Road framework,” said Zeng Yongchao, executive vise president of China Southern Airlines.

Zeng said the joint venture is a significant step toward boosting aviation connectivity and reflects the shared desire to create a vibrant regional market. The partnership will let both airlines play to their strengths and share resources while passengers can expect more flight choices, better connections and an overall smoother experience along the Belt and Road air corridors.

Building on an existing network between the two countries:

The two carriers already have significant operations connecting Kazakhstan and China.

Air Astana operates flights from its bases in Astana and Almaty to Urumqi, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. During peak season, the airline operates up to 36 return flights a week.

China Southern Airlines, for its part, connects Urumqi, Beijing, Guangzhou and Xi'an with Almaty and Astana, with up to 29 scheduled return flights a week at peak times.

The airlines between them offer a wide network between the two countries. “This existing operational foundation is expected to facilitate further improvements in connectivity, passenger convenience and destination choice as the joint venture develops.”

The partnership is intended to strengthen business, tourism, educational and family travel ties between Kazakhstan and China, in addition to aviation. It will also enhance onward connections for passengers traveling through either country as a transit point to destinations across the two airlines’ wider networks.

Air Astana continues its expansion amid financial and operational pressures

The announcement comes as Air Astana continues to pursue network expansion despite mounting cost pressures and a decline in profitability.

The Group’s financial performance for the first three quarters of 2026 showed revenue growth of 17.9 per cent. However, EBITDAR declined by 5.7 per cent to USD 247.3 million, compared with USD 262.2 million during the first nine months of 2025. The EBITDAR margin also contracted by 4.8 percentage points, falling to 19.1 per cent from 23.9 per cent a year earlier.

Despite these pressures, the Group reported accelerating revenue growth during the third quarter of 2026. Revenue increased by 20.6 per cent year on year, while the relationship between revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) and cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) improved for the third consecutive quarter.

Ibrahim Canliel, CEO of Air Astana, said unit revenues increased by 16.0 per cent during the quarter, supported by disciplined capacity management, sustained passenger demand and the effectiveness of the Group’s dynamic capacity allocation model in the current market environment.

However, international fuel prices and other factors continued to push operating costs higher. The Group partly mitigated this pressure by increasing its domestic fuel uplift to 75 per cent during the quarter, representing a four-percentage-point improvement year on year.

Operational disruption linked to Pratt & Whitney engine issues also continued to affect the airline. Nevertheless, five fewer aircraft were grounded during the third quarter compared with the same period last year. Canliel reiterated the Group’s expectation that there will be no aircraft groundings during the peak season in 2027.

International expansion and stronger East–West transit flows

Air Astana has also been adapting its network to take advantage of changing international travel patterns. Although volatility in the Gulf region persists, the Group has adjusted operations across both of its airline brands to capture increased demand for East–West transit traffic through Kazakhstan.

During the third quarter, the Group nearly doubled its capacity to China year on year, while capacity to India rose by 23 per cent. The number of new routes introduced during 2026 reached 24, and overall capacity increased by 4 per cent year on year in the third quarter, marking the strongest quarterly growth recorded so far this year.

Canliel also highlighted the improvement in engine availability, noting that the third quarter marked the first period in which the Group began to see better aircraft availability. This development is expected to provide the foundation for near-term growth by allowing the airline to make greater use of its existing fleet.

Network development continued throughout the summer. Air Astana announced a flagship service to Tokyo, alongside new routes to Langkawi, Salalah and Bangkok.

Its low-cost subsidiary, FlyArystan, also expanded its international network with new services to Chongqing, Xi’an, Urumqi, Urgench and Yining, as well as the resumption of flights to Yerevan.

These additions are designed to extend the Group’s reach across key business and leisure markets while strengthening its international presence.

Canliel noted that the improved availability of aircraft engines, previously identified as a key condition for fleet utilisation and expansion, began translating into tangible results during the third quarter. Increased capacity, new route launches and further international development demonstrated this progress in practice.

The CEO expressed confidence that the positive trend would continue, supporting the Group’s future growth ambitions.