Air Astana carries 30.000 passengers on Podgorica route

NEWS FLASH

Air Astana carried some 30.000 passengers on its flights from Almaty and Nur-Sultan to Podgorica, which were launched this summer season. The carrier, which recently suspended the service, intends on returning next year if the visa waiver for Kazakh citizens is reintroduced by the Montenegrin government. “We are very satisfied with our Podgorica service. We started at the beginning of June and we finished the flight program now. The results exceeded all expectations and we a very satisfied. We have had the highest level of cooperation with the airport management. We took the decision to try and start flying to Montenegro at the beginning of May and it was the airport management who were our primary contact in Montenegro and they really facilitated every aspect of our operation including and beyond the specific airport issues”, Air Astana’s President and CEO, Peter Foster, said. He added, “This is the first time we have flown to Montenegro and it is very much a summer destination. This summer we carried around 30.000 Kazakh tourists between Kazakhstan and Montenegro. This has proved a very popular destination, of course hugely facilitated by the visa waiver - the visa free entry for Kazakh tourists”. Although Air Astana planned to maintain flights to Podgorica throughout the winter, it suspended ticket sales after Montenegro ended its visa waiver program for Kazakh nationals. “In the northern winter Kazakh tourists tend to go to southern destinations such as Thailand and the Maldives so it is very normal that we have temporarily suspended operations. We fully intend to start again with even more flights next season, starting in the middle of March. Of course, it is very important that the visa free entry for Kazakh citizens is reinstated next year”, Mr Foster concluded.