Transit of passengers from China to Europe via Kazakhstan grew twice in 2015

Almaty. February 2. Silkroadnews - The number of the transit Chinese air passengers flying to Europe via Kazakhstan in 2015 increased in two times. This was announced by the Deputy Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee (CAC) of the Ministry of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan Talgat Lastayev, KazTAG reports.
“At present our transit sector is very well developed. Due to such flights as, e.g., Astana- Paris and connections with cities in Eastern Russia we observe a good performance on transit (of air passengers - Silkroadnews) via Kazakhstan. For example, the Chinese tourists flying through Astana to Paris. Here we observe a growth by an order of magnitude. I will not tell the volume in the absolute numbers, yet the growth is of two times somewhere,” - T. Lastayev said on Tuesday.
At the same time, according to him, a twofold increase was in 2015.
“They (Chinese citizens - Silkroadnews) fly, say, from Urumqi to Astana and then from Astana to Paris using our airlines. This is because, e.g., the direct flights are not always available from Urumqi to Paris, though last year the outbound tourism from China made 110 million people. Can you imagine what a huge number it is?!” - he said.
“At present we plan to open (flight - Silkroadnews) Astana - Ulaanbaatar. This is the direction where we see a very good flow of people travelling from Europe to Mongolia,” - said the deputy head of the CAC.
According to T. Lastayev, Kazakhstan shall use the current opportunity to develop its transit potential, “taking into account the country’s location”.
The devaluation of tenge makes tickets for flights to Kazakhstan more affordable for foreigners.
“In view of the economic laws the prices in Kazakhstan become more affordable, thus, more attractive to foreigners,” - he added.