Following the announcement on 9 February 2024 regarding the successful pricing of its initial public offering of GDRs internationally (the “Global Offer”) and a concurrent offering of Shares and GDRs in Kazakhstan (the “Domestic Offer”, and together with the Global Offer, the “Offering”), Air Astana Joint Stock Company (the “Company”) confirms that unconditional dealings in the GDRs have commenced on the Main Market of the LSE and that the GDRs have today been admitted to the standard listing segment of the Official List of the FCA under the ticker “AIRA”.

he Offering consists of the sale of (i) 9,884,209 Shares by Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna Joint Stock Company; (ii) 21,720,752 GDRs by BAE Systems (Kazakhstan) Limited; and (iii) 50,526,315 new Shares issued by the Company. The GDRs represent Shares in the Company with one GDR representing an interest in four Shares.

About the Air Astana Group

The Air Astana Group is the largest airline group in Central Asia and the Caucasus region based on market share. As of the date of this announcement, the Air Astana Group operates a fleet of 50 aircraft split between Air Astana, its full-service brand that operated its inaugural flight in 2002, and FlyArystan, its low-cost carrier established in 2019.

The Air Astana Group provides scheduled, point-to-point and transit, short-haul and long-haul air travel and cargo on domestic, regional and international routes across Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Far East, the Middle East, India and Europe. In the year ended 31 December 2022, the Air Astana Group carried approximately 7.3 million passengers on approximately 52 thousand flights across 16 countries. The Air Astana Group successfully recovered at a faster rate post-COVID in comparison to global averages and generated a CAGR in revenue of 60.6% for the three years ended 31 December 2022.

In 2023, Air Astana was recognised for the eleventh year as the “Best Airline in Central Asia and CIS” at the Skytrax World Airline Awards and received a five-star rating in the major airline category by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX).