Flying start

摘要

Back in 2016, this author visited the Air Astana HQ in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Even then, the airline's CEO Peter Foster mentioned that it was inventible that low cost operators would enter the market. He said that despite being a full-service airline, Air Astana had a reasonably low unit cost allowing it to compete with the LCCs.Fast forward three years, Air Astana is preparing to compete in the market with its own LCC operation called FlyArystan - the carrier is scheduled to take off during the first half of this year, and will operate a fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft configured in all-economy with 180 seats.