Kazakhstan opens access to its cities for foreign airlines

The Ministry of Transport of Kazakhstan has lifted all restrictions that prevented foreign airlines from flying to different cities in Kazakhstan. The Civil Aviation Committee is now expecting that the cost of air tickets will go down.

What happened? Foreign airlines were given the right to fly to big Kazakhstani cities without limitations. The Ministry of Transport has amended its order on introducing the open skies regime and lifted a previous limitation that used to be applied to foreign airlines.

«Foreign airlines have received the right to fly in a range of Kazakhstani airports with no limitation on frequency, types of aircraft and routes, which is the fifth freedom of air,» the agency said in a statement.

How the novelty can affect air ticket prices? According to the Civil Aviation Committee, the move will eventually cause the cost of airline tickets to lower, improve service and expand the flight geography.

What is the open skies regime? The regime means the absence of any limitations on the number of flights and the ability to grant foreign airlines fifth freedom of air on those routes where Kazakhstani airlines do not operate.

Under the fifth freedom of the air, an airline has the right to conduct flights between two states as long as the final destination is the country of origin for that airline.

This year, Kazakhstan has extended the open skies regime until 2027. Under this regime, the airports of Astana, Almaty, Aktau, Aktobe, Karaganda, Kokshetau, Pavlodar, Petropavlovsk, Semey, Taraz, Turkestan, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shymkent are open for foreign airlines.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said that the government can’t control the cost of airline tickets for FlyArystan, a low-cost air carrier.