Air Astana is expanding its international network for the 2025-2026 winter season, restoring routes and increasing capacity across the Middle East and Asia as regional travel demand continues to strengthen.
The Kazakh flag carrier resumed flights from Almaty and Shymkent to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s gateway to Mecca, in September 2025. Services to Medina will follow later in October 2025. Flights from Astana and Aktau will alternate between Jeddah and Medina, broadening access to pilgrimage destinations for travelers across Kazakhstan.
In Asia, the airline is reintroducing several popular leisure routes. Services from Almaty to Malé in the Maldives and to Phu Quoc in Vietnam will restart in late October 2025, with frequencies set to rise during the peak holiday period. Flights between Astana and Phu Quoc will operate three times weekly.
Air Astana is also boosting frequencies on established routes to the United Arab Emirates and Thailand. The number of flights between Almaty and Dubai will increase from seven to twelve per week, while Astana–Dubai flights will rise from seven to ten. The carrier will also transition to daily operations between Almaty and both Bangkok and Phuket.
All flights will be operated by Airbus A320neo and A321LR aircraft from Air Astana’s modern narrowbody fleet, optimized for medium-haul routes.