Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 19
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Kazakh national air carrier Air Astana's net profit for 2014 decreased by 62 percent, falling to $19.3 million, Novosti-Kazakhstan reported with the reference to the company.
Such a sharp decrease happened due to devaluation of Kazakh national currency tenge by 19 percent in Feb. 2014, said the company.
Meanwhile the company got a record operational profit of $97.7 million in the reporting period (35 percent increase compared to the same period of 2013).
Air Astana's passenger traffic increased by 3 percent to 3.8 million in 2014, while revenue fell by 3 percent to $932.9 million.
"The past year can be considered as favorable for the company, despite the devaluation of tenge and uncertainty in the region because of the sanctions imposed on Russia, the [company's] second largest market after Kazakhstan," the president of Air Astana Peter Foster said.
"The company received excellent operating results due to reduction of operating costs by 7 percent and growth in passenger traffic transit through Kazakhstan."
Meanwhile he noted that uncertain political and economic situation in the region could bring challenges for aviation in 2015.
Air Astana is a joint venture of the Kazakh National Welfare Fund Samruk-Kazyna (51 percent) and the UK BAE Systems (49 percent). The planes of the airline started implementing regular flights in 2002, and currently operate flights on 60 international and domestic destinations. The average age of the company's air fleet is 5.5 years.
Edited by S.I.
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