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المسلة / Arab Tourism By English / Aviation News

Qazaq Air to lease three Q400s from Falcon Aviation Services

ATP-  Arab tourism portal- Qazaq Air (Almaty) has signed an agreement with UAE-based firm, Falcon Aviation Services (FVS, Abu Dhabi Bateen), for the lease of three Dash 8-400s the first of which, P4-NUR (cn 4494), recently exited the -----paint shop in Almaty ahead of its formal presentation to the Kazakh public this week.

Though early press releases had pointed to a possible July 1 launch, delays in securing an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee have led to reports that July 20 may be a more realistic date.

 A wholly-owned subsidiary of Kazakhstan's sovereign wealth fund, Samruk-Kazyna, Qazaq Air will specialize in domestic operations and has thus far applied for rights to serve Astana, Shimkent, Aktyubinsk, Pavlodar, Kostanay, Kzyl-Orda, Taldy Kurgan, and Balkhash.

The Kazakh domestic market has seen a dearth of services since Air Astana (KC, Astana) retired its fleet of Fokker 50s in January 2013.