ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 12. The "Central Asia - China" (C5+1) initiative's Working Group on Civil Aviation Cooperation kicked off its second summit today in Astana, Trend reports via the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In her opening remarks, Saltanat Tompiyeva, Chair of the Civil
Aviation Committee at the Ministry, emphasized the continued growth
of Kazakhstan’s civil aviation sector. In the past year, domestic
airports handled 29.7 million passengers—a 14 percent increase.
International air connectivity is also on the rise, with 36 new
routes launched this year and seven new foreign airlines entering
the Kazakh market.
“The conference will contribute to strengthening partnerships
between Central Asian countries and China, aligning new initiatives
to expand air connectivity, attracting investment and technology
into the region’s aviation sector, and enhancing Kazakhstan’s role
as a regional aviation hub. Hosting this meeting in Astana is an
important step in developing international cooperation in civil
aviation and will bolster Central Asia’s position on the global
aviation map,” Tompiyeva underscored.
She mentioned that bilateral talks with aviation authorities
from China and Uzbekistan will kick off on August 14.
Bai Wenli, the head of China’s aviation authority, pointed out that
China is now running direct flights to all five Central Asian
capitals, and the count of regular weekly passenger flights has
shot up to 151—almost double the 2024 number and three times that
of 2019.
“Over the past year, we’ve brought about significant results in
aviation connectivity.” Air service agreements with Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan have been rolled out, opening up more
favorable conditions for airline operations. China Southern
Airlines has teamed up with Air Astana and Uzbekistan Airways,
setting up codeshare agreements that bring about mutually
beneficial commercial cooperation and help expand regional route
networks,” said Bai Wenli.
The first Working Group Conference on Civil Aviation Cooperation in the C5+1 format (Central Asia–China) took place in Xi’an, China, from June 17 to 21, 2024. During that meeting, a cooperation mechanism was established for civil aviation between China and Central Asia, and it was agreed that the Working Group conference would be held annually to review progress and plan future cooperation.
