Vietnamese carrier VietJet Air has launched scheduled service on the Hanoi–Almaty–Prague route. The first aircraft touched down in the Czech capital on October 10, carrying about 200 Kazakh citizens, the website infohub.kz reports.
The Kazakh Embassy in the Czech Republic announced the launch of the new route. Flights operate twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The service uses wide-body Airbus A330-300 aircraft, which can carry up to 377 passengers.
According to the airline and Prague's Vaclav Havel Airport, passengers can also buy tickets for the Prague–Almaty leg alone.
Staff from the Kazakh diplomatic mission took part in the ceremony marking the route's launch at Prague Airport. Radomir Lasak, chairman of the airport's board of directors, noted that the launch of scheduled service with Hanoi expands its network of long-haul international routes.
"We expect the new routes to carry more than 67,000 passengers in both directions in the first year of operation," Lasak said.
The embassy stressed that the route links Southeast and Central Asia with Europe and expands opportunities for tourism, business and cultural exchanges between Kazakhstan, Vietnam and the Czech Republic.
The diplomatic mission said the new air link also creates additional conditions for strengthening trade, economic and interregional ties and for developing joint initiatives in tourism, trade and investment. The route will be available to entrepreneurs, tourists, students and citizens visiting relatives and friends.
Kursiv previously reported that VietJet Air announced the Hanoi–Almaty–Prague route back in March. The carrier said at the time that Deluxe-class tickets on the Almaty–Hanoi and Almaty–Prague routes would cost from 185,000 tenge one way.