Kazakhstan Airline Suspends Flights to Major Russian City for Security Reasons

Kazakh airline QAZAQ AIR has suspended flights to a major Russian city, The Caspian Post reports citing Trend.

“QAZAQ AIR is compelled to temporarily suspend flights on the Astana-Yekaterinburg route from December 28 this year through January 27, 2025.

Suspension of flights was carried out to ensure the safety of passengers and crew members based on the results of the ongoing risk assessment of flights to Russia. The airline will continue to operate flights to Omsk and Novosibirsk, which currently continue to meet the QAZAQ AIR risk assessment criteria. The flights to Ekaterinburg will be reinstated following a second risk assessment.

Passengers of canceled flights will be provided with a refund of the full cost of tickets and offered free rebooking on alternative flights of the Airline”, the information of QAZAQ AIR says.

To note, the passenger plane Embraer 190 belonging to AZAL, which was on the Baku-Grozny route, crashed 3 kilometers from Aktau airport on December 25.

A total of 67 people (62 passengers and 5 crew members) were on board the plane.

Following the crash of the passenger plane, 27 people were admitted to the hospital. Of them, 15 people are citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 8 of the Russian Federation, and 3 of the Kyrgyz Republic. The identity of one person has not yet been established.

Both pilots of the crew as well as the flight attendant were dead; two crew members survived.

On December 26, 14 victims and the bodies of four dead were transported to Azerbaijan.