Prospects of development of the Nursultan Nazarbayev international airport (Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan) as a passenger transit hub of «Air Astana» airline company

Abstract

Purpose: the purpose of this research is to present a model for the development of the Nursultan Nazarbayev airport (Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan) as a passenger transit hub for Air Astana. Discussion: based on passenger traffic data from Nur-Sultan airport for the period from 2004 to 2019, it was found that passenger traffic increased more than 10 times (from 500 thousand to 5 million passengers), while the largest airport in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty airport, showed an increase in passenger traffic more than 4 times over the same period (from 1,5 million to 6,4 million passengers'). In the period from 2014 to 2016, a comprehensive modernization of the airport named after Nursultan Nazarbayev was carried out, the permissible capacity of the airport increased to 8,2 million passengers per year. The airport expands cooperation with national and foreign airlines, opening new domestic and international destinations. The air transportation market of the Republic of Kazakhstan shows high growth rates. Results: the result of the research is to build a model for the development of directions in the route network of Air Astana based on the airport named after Nursultan Nazarbayev. On the bases of the analysis of the current domestic and international route network of national and foreign airlines, the author presented a model for the long-term development of international destinations. Air Astana is expanding and updating its fleet by purchasing narrow and wide-body Airliners capable of flying at a distance of 6000 to 12000 km. The construction of a passenger transit hub based on the Nursultan Nazarbayev airport will allow Air Astana to increase passenger traffic and become the leading airline in the region, operating regular flights to European and Asian destinations.