ASTANA, Kazakhstan, January 13. Kazakhstan's Air Astana has announced its intention to consider an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Astana International Exchange (AIX), and Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Trend reports.
"Our intention to list in London and Kazakhstan demonstrates the strong foundation of the Air Astana Group and the exciting prospects for increased air traffic in our key markets. We are confident that the IPO will contribute to the next stage of growth for Air Astana Group. We see significant opportunities to density our existing routes and expand into new geographies, given our plans for further fleet expansion and initiatives to increase operational flexibility," said the President of Air Astana, JSC Peter Foster.
As Foster noted, over the past two decades, Air Astana Group has achieved outstanding success and become the largest airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
"Today we are one of the fastest-growing airline groups in the world, with a modern, fuel-efficient fleet carrying around 8 million customers annually and delivering award-winning levels of service on board our aircraft," he noted.
Meanwhile, Air Astana is the largest airline in Kazakhstan, based in Almaty. The Air Astana group of companies also includes the low-cost airline FlyArystan. The airline operates domestic and international regular flights on 64 routes. The company is a joint venture of Kazakhstan's Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund (51 percent) and the British company BAE Systems PLC (49 percent).
On May 15, 2002, Air Astana performed its first flight from Almaty to Astana.
