Kazakhstan to resume more international flights

Kazakhstan will resume flights to six countries, including some holiday hot-spots, starting from mid-June. Flights to Turkey, China, South Korea, Thailand, Georgia, and Japan will resume on June 20 in a safe manner, Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement.

‘‘The number of flights on international routes will be operated based on existing intergovernmental agreements on air traffic and depend on the commercial loading of aircraft on each route,’’ the statement published on the committee’s website said. 

Tickets for these flights will go on sale in accordance with the schedule published on the websites of airlines, Caspian News reported. Further destinations will be unveiled as the epidemiological situation improves, according to the committee. 

Meanwhile, the flight expansion comes two weeks after the government of Kazakhstan unveiled plans to resume flights to destinations including Seoul and Beijing from June.

Chief Sanitary Officer Ayzhan Yesmagambetova has responded to the recent changes making amendments to the existing order aimed at strengthening lockdown measures to prevent coronavirus infection among the people of Kazakhstan. According to the new rules, restrictive measures will be applied for regular passengers arriving from abroad, depending on the country from which they arrive, Caspian News said.

Passengers from China, South Korea, Japan, Georgia, and Thailand are required to fill out a health questionnaire and will be asked to take taken temperature measurements. At the same time, passengers from Turkey are included in another group and they will be presented with more stringent requirements due to the epidemiological situation in that country. Passengers from Turkey will have to present a certificate of having tested negative for coronavirus or they will be tested less than 48 hours after their arrival. Those who have tested positive for Covid-19 will be placed in special infectious disease hospitals. The third group includes countries with which Kazakhstan has not yet reached agreements to resume reciprocal flights.

Central Asia’s largest country had sealed off its borders on March 16, in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, while Kazakhstan air carrier Air Astana cancelled all of its international flights starting from March 29. Domestic flights resumed on May 25 to all regions, in accordance with the government decision.