By Botagoz Marabai
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As Central Asia’s solely airline listed on three inventory exchanges, Kazakhstan’s flagship service Air Astana has led the area’s aviation sector for over 20 years.
Since its IPO in February 2024, the airline’s share worth has dipped. Forward of their half yr outcomes, Euronews sat down with Air Astana’s CEO, Peter Foster, to debate his plans to lift share costs and develop Kazakhstan’s flag service’s world presence.
Q: How do you assess investor sentiment following Air Astana’s IPO, and what key methods do you propose to implement to keep up inventory and shareholder worth?
A: The inventory worth has been a bit disappointing for the reason that IPO in February of final yr — the inventory worth has declined. The principle level to make is that the corporate, in reality, has carried out extraordinarily effectively and continues to take action.
So after all, our job is to handle the corporate to one of the best of our means and naturally to maximise shareholder worth. We have now not too long ago introduced a really substantial dividend. Actually, the most important dividend that we’ve ever paid, and one of many largest dividends within the airline business as we speak. And that’s a mirrored image of the robust efficiency, of the robust steadiness sheet, the robust money steadiness. We consider that if we proceed to handle the corporate effectively and if it performs effectively, the inventory worth will observe ultimately. The important thing actually is to proceed managing the airline in the way in which that now we have in all [my] 20 years right here: To maintain focussed on value, to maintain value aggressive in order that the airline stays aggressive in an more and more difficult world market and to maximise service ranges to make sure high class security requirements and by doing so, we are able to leverage the standard of the product to make sure the airline continues being worthwhile.
Q: You’ve gotten outlined main strategic alternatives for worldwide progress — within the Gulf, Western Europe, China, Korea, Japan and India. What would these partnerships entail?
A: Kazakhstan is a rustic of 20 million folks and but Air Astana as we speak is at 62 plane and naturally we intend to develop that to 84 plane by the top of 2028. While you take a look at the dimensions of Air Astana and progress profile and the general measurement of the Kazakhstan market, you see that after all we’re proud to serve the Kazakhstan market and Kazakhstan’s travellers, nevertheless it’s not adequate to allow the airline to develop as we’re doing into a major worldwide airline participant. Due to this fact, we completely have to leverage our place in shut proximity to a few of the world’s largest markets to make sure that we’re additionally getting a good portion of our prospects from these massive markets that are a lot greater than Kazakhstan.
One of the best ways to leverage that geographical place is to work with companion airways from these nations. We’re presently in discussions with China Southern in China, we’re having discussions with carriers in India, we’ve not too long ago signed a code share with Japan Airways for the Japanese market, now we have an present business relationship with Lufthansa for western Europe, with Turkish Airways for Turkey. So, that is the way in which that an airline of our aspiration with a house market that’s comparatively small can leverage the standard of the airline and the geography of location of the airline with companions to develop past its personal borders.
Q: With the present scarcity of fuel-efficient plane, how is Air Astana adapting its operational methods?
A: The producers and the engine producers launched new engine expertise from NASA ten years in the past. With out going into technical element, it was expertise that was primarily pushed by the necessity to present larger bypass engines, that are extra fuel-efficient. You get extra energy from much less gasoline burned, which saves the airline cash and naturally, it’s extra environmentally sustainable. Actually, on a mean flight, it takes to London [from Astana], a 7.5-hour flight, we are able to save as much as 20-25% extra gasoline than would have been burning up to now instances. In order that’s superb. The issue with that’s that the engine expertise is comparatively new, advanced and it has been topic to reliability points that are ongoing and so we’re not getting fairly the effectivity or the sustainability readings that we had hoped for. However these issues will resolve themselves in time and subsequently we are able to count on to get the complete advantages each by way of economics and the setting as we go ahead.
Q: What inexperienced applied sciences or sustainability initiatives is Air Astana adopting to contribute to Kazakhstan’s net-zero objectives?
A: We had been one of many first movers to usher in the Airbus neo long-range plane. Actually, we had been the primary airline to signal for these plane at Paris Air Present ten years in the past. They’re considerably higher, extra optimum than the earlier engine expertise that was deployed on plane on these lengthy routes and we are going to proceed to introduce these plane with a purpose to meet the sustainability targets.
The producers are engaged on enhanced expertise by way of aerodynamics, by way of wing design, by way of engine design, as we go ahead. However inevitably the numerous portion of our realisation of internet zero will come from carbon credit and the CORSIA scheme (Carbon Offsetting and Discount Scheme for Worldwide Aviation), which has been launched and endorsed by the United Nations and all member states.