ALMATY (Intefax-Kazakhstan) — The Kazakh air company Qazaq Air, which has been operating for over two years, will open nearby international flights in summer 2018 after the company passes IOSA, operational safety audit, said CEO Blair Therherne POLLOCK in an interview with Interfax-Kazakhstan.

Responding to the question about the new destinations that Qazaq Air plans to open, Mr. Pollock said:

In the next couple of months, we plan to receive IOSA certification that will allow us to fly internationally. We plan to fly to some nearby international destinations from our transfer hubs in Astana, Almaty and Atyrau. The international destinations from Astana would be to the southern parts of Russia, from Almaty to south, like Kyrgyzstan, and from Atyrau over the Caspian Sea to Caucasus. The air company, in particular, considers Chelyabinsk airport as a potential destination for its international flights. This is the plan for the development of our international flights. I believe we will pass the IOSA audit in March 2018.

In 2017, Qazaq Air transported over 250,000 passengers, a 53% increase in passenger traffic compared to 2016. The total number of passengers carried by the company amounted to 445,000 people.