Cathay Pacific and Air Astana announce partnership, boosting links between countries in new Silk Road plan
From this month, the city’s flagship carrier and Kazakhstan’s national airline will sell tickets and market flights on each other’s routes across Asia and Australia
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier on Monday announced a partnership with the national airline of one of Central Asia’s economic pioneers – Kazakhstan – giving it a stronger foothold in a region integral to the “Belt and Road Initiative”, China’s global trade development strategy.
Starting this month, Cathay Pacific Airways and Air Astana will sell tickets and market flights on each other’s routes across Asia and Australia under a code-share agreement.
The deal gives Cathay Pacific access to the resource-rich emerging economy associated with some of the largest Belt and Road projects, including the Khorgos Gateway dry port on its border with mainland China, rail links to London and Iran and the mega Central Asian gas pipeline.
The five main projects of the Belt and Road Initiative
For Air Astana, it means riding on Hong Kong’s flagship airline to offer passengers from Central Asia greater and smoother access to Southeast Asia and Australia.
“The real commercial value is the network,” Air Astana vice-president of marketing and sales Richard Ledger told the Post in an interview.
To partner with Cathay, Air Astana will drop its existing commercial code-share deal with the city’s third-largest carrier, Hong Kong Airlines.
Hong Kong Airlines seeks Belt and Road partners amid plans for expansion
“We are after the best partner in each hub for distribution. Clearly Cathay are the best,” Ledger explained, adding that the Hong Kong Airlines arrangement did not give the airline what Cathay could.