Kazakhstan Opens the Door to Direct Air Travel to the U.S.

Kazakhstani Mazhilis has approved a draft law on ratification of the agreement between the governments of the U.S. and Kazakhstan on air travel, the Interfax Kazakhstan news agency reported.

According to Beibut Atamkulov, minister of industry and infrastructural development of Kazakhstan, the agreement is aimed at the creation of a legal basis for direct air travel between Kazakhstan and the U.S.

«In accordance with recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization on liberalization of air travel and suggestions from the American side, the agreement will allow any airlines to set any number of direct flights to any cities in either country. This is the fifth freedom of the air for passenger flights,» he said.  

The agreement is the first document of its kind Kazakhstan signed within the Open Sky regime, Atamkulov highlighted. It means that any airline from Kazakhstan will be able to carry out direct passenger and cargo flights to any destination in the U.S. from any city in Kazakhstan with any frequency. They will also be allowed to fly between American cities and cities all over the world.

So far, Kazakhstan restored air travel with 16 countries as the epidemiologic situation in these countries has improved (Russia, Turkey, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Germany, the Maldives, South Korea, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Czechia, Sri Lanka, China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Azerbaijan). Moreover, the Interagency Commission in Kazakhstan has decided to restore the non-visa regime with 30 countries with a high rate of vaccination (Italy, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Poland, Denmark, Chili, Hungary, South Korea, Czechia, Bahrain, Qatar, Monaco, Cyprus, Iceland, Finland, Malta, Sweden, Portugal, Lichtenstein, Canada, Singapore and Belgium).