Aeroflot ready to ditch legal risks for returning to Kazakhstan

Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, is poised to resume regularly scheduled flights to Kazakhstan, despite a substantial chunk of its fleet is at the heart of legal action from plane-leasing firms seeking the return of their aircraft.

The airline said in a statement on January 27 that it is already selling tickets for flights from Russia to Astana, Almaty and Atyrau, which are due to restart on February 1. Aeroflot says it will use Airbus A320 planes on those routes, according to The Moscow Times.

An official in Kazakhstan’s government has told Eurasianet that only aircraft previously purchased outright by Aeroflot from foreign leasing companies will be permitted to service those flights.

“The planes that we will allow to fly into Kazakhstan are purely Russian-owned, so they have been bought out from the leasing companies,” the official said.

Reuters reported in May that Aeroflot had bought eight Airbus A330 models from foreign leasing companies. It is uncertain, however, that these are the same planes that will be used to carry passengers to Kazakhstan since Aeroflot referred in its statement to A320s, which are designed to complete shorter-haul flights.

Aeroflot says it plans two daily flights to Astana, three to Almaty, and two flights per week to Atyrau.