You may already know by now that 
Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s flag carrier, has ordered an additional ten Boeing 787-9s. This takes its firm orders and options to 15 frames. It remains to be seen how many will eventually operate. Elsewhere, Uzbekistan Airways has firmed up eight 787-9s, with 22 aircraft now due to be delivered. Not to be outdone, Tajikistan’s Somon Air has ordered four 787-9s, along with ten 737 MAX 8s.
Central Asia has been expanding rapidly recently. Air Astana and Uzbekistan Airways’ orders demonstrate this—and that’s just for widebodies. With government backing, Uzbekistan Airways, at least, is keen to take advantage of its excellent location right in the middle of Europe and Asia. This is to boost transit passenger volume and to grow inbound tourism. Historically, Air Astana’s CEO has steadfastly refused to focus greatly on lower-yielding transit passengers. Has its position changed, whether because of Uzbekistan Airways’ ambition or otherwise?
Air Astana’s 787s Will Replace Its 767s
While less exciting than new route opportunities, fleet replacement is inevitable. According to ch-aviation, Air Astana has three 767-300ERs, each in a two-class, 223-seat configuration. However, they only average 11.9 years, which is relatively young for this equipment. (Delta’s 767-300ERs average 29.0 years, while it’s 29.7 for United’s examples.) Delivered in 2014, Air Astana’s EI-KEC (originally registered P4-KEC) was the final passenger 767 built.
Air Astana’s first 787 is due to arrive in 2026. Switching to the type will, of course, bring many benefits. This includes a better hard product, higher capacity, lower fuel burn, lower maintenance requirements, and a much longer range. But as is always the case with new equipment, those things will be offset by significantly higher ownership costs. Although less discussed, it will also mean a substantially higher freight capacity, which is something that’s often forgotten.
Between November 2025 and August 2026, Air Astana’s 767s are scheduled to fly internationally from Almaty to Dubai, Male, Phuket, and Seoul Incheon. Some of these markets are high-volume. For example, in the 12 months to August 2025, booking data shows that Almaty-Seoul had 146,000 round-trip passengers. Some, if not all, of these markets are likely to see the 787.
Flights To The US Will Certainly Be Coming
In September, Air Astana’s CEO reiterated the airline’s desire to fly to New York JFK, which is the world’s second-busiest airport for long-haul activity. Of course, it’d have to avoid Russian airspace, which would increase the route’s length by 15% or more, increasing time and fuel burn and meaning it is less competitive. Flightradar24 shows Uzbekistan Airways uses Russian airspace from Tashkent to JFK.
Air Astana would fly over the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe to the Big Apple. GCMap suggests that the distance might be 6,500 nautical miles, against the 787-9’s theoretical maximum range of 7,500 nautical miles or so. Cirium shows that 23 other nonstop 787-9-operated routes cover a greater distance. However, Almaty’s elevation of 2,200+ feet may reduce takeoff performance. As such, a payload restriction might be needed—assuming flights are sufficiently full, which is unlikely. Even Almaty-Heathrow, on the 166-seat Airbus A321LR with extra fuel tanks, only filled 64% of the available seats.
In the year to August, booking data suggests 114,000 passengers flew between Kazakhstan and the US. With 20,000, NYC was, of course, by far the largest market. Nonetheless, connections via Almaty will be critical. Depending on the schedules, JFK flights could feed the wider Kazakhstan market (36,000 passengers) and the broader Central Asia market (175,000). It could capture some of the traffic between Almaty and the wider US with airline partnerships.
If Air Astana could fly through Russian airspace, JFK-Almaty-Delhi and JFK-Almaty-Mumbai would cover nearly the same great circle distance as a nonstop service. (Air Astana began Mumbai flights in April.) Of course, the airline’s aircraft would then be full of lower-yielding traffic, which is exactly what’s not wanted on such a long trip, at least in a commercial sense.
Where Else Could It Fly The 787?
Even if not all the 15 aircraft are delivered, it is clear that Air Astana has big ambitions. By the time the final aircraft (of however many it does eventually firm up) has arrived, it is likely to be able to fly through Russia again. This will help massively in turning Almaty into a hub of sorts between Asia and Europe. It could also focus on connections between Moscow and Western Russia to Asia.
If it does indeed develop an Almaty hub, with the consequent increase in traffic, it is likely to upgrade some key existing markets—Bangkok, Beijing, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Heathrow, Seoul, etc.—to the 787-9. Larger unserved European markets include Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Munich, and Vienna. In Asia, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are contenders. But there’s no doubt that it’ll be a very costly and risky endeavor, particularly compared to its current strategy of using the lower-risk A321LR and focusing on higher-yielding local traffic.
