Kazakhstan carrier Air Astana posted a healthy US$39.1 million profit in 2017, bouncing back after its first ever loss in 2016.
The airline posted passenger growth of 12% and revenue was up 22% in 2017, after the previous loss in part down to the devaluation of the Kazakh Tenge in mid-2015.
The turnaround is primarily attributed to the success of EXPO 2017, which surpassed targets, welcoming more than three million visitors.
"Astana EXPO 2017 and increased transit business through the new terminal at Nursultan Nazarbayev Airport in Astana have been the main growth drivers. EXPO was a great success and substantially exceeded its visitor target. Transit business grew by 58% and is now 12% of total business," said CEO Peter Foster.
"Our comparatively low unit cost has enabled us to successfully grow this business segment by being competitive in key overseas markets, such as Russia, China, India and the EU, and smaller high growth markets such as Ukraine, Georgia and Uzbekistan."
Air Astana added 7% seat capacity in 2017 with new routes between Astana and Delhi and Astana and Kiev, and added frequencies to Bangkok, Beijing, Dubai, Istanbul, London, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Omsk, St. Petersburg, Seoul, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Urumqi and Yekaterinburg.
