In an age where airlines are increasingly skimping on their short-haul and domestic business class product or eradicating it entirely, Kazakhstan’s national carrier Air Astana continues to shine, with crisp, efficient service and a market-leading offering for premium travellers, discovers Nick Walton.

Check-In

We checked-in for our 1 hour 30 minute flight between commercial capital Almaty and political capital Astana at a designated lounge for premium travellers. Half check-in desk, half café, the odd lounge space offers comfortable seating, designated bathroom facilities and a cash bar set up in one corner. When our flight was boarding we passed through an efficient security procedure and boarded one of the airline’s modern Boeing 767-300ER aircraft, one of a handful delivered directly from factory to airline. Each of Air Astana’s 767-300ER aircraft boasts a business class product ideally suited for short to medium-length flights around Kazakhstan, the CIS and even to Europe.

The Seat

Set in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration and dressed in calming grey and white, the business class product on the airline’s 767 differs from that of the 757 we previously reviewed. Similar to products used by Swiss International and Austrian Airlines, my lie-flat window seat, by Thompson Vantage, featured an expansive armrest between seat and window that offered ample space for storage of laptops, tablets and headphones. A large 15-inch Zodiac RAVE personal monitor with superb resolution featured double USB connection ports, while the seat also had an easily-accessible AC powerpoint, a refreshing change from carriers which do their best to hide power points away. Each seat offers ample legroom and additional storage for smaller items like smartphones.

The charming crew welcomed us onboard during an efficient boarding process, serving glasses of champagne and fruit juice and offering a selection of regional newspapers.  The airline’s 757 and 767 aircraft both feature signature LED mood lighting in blue and purple scheme, which gives a futuristic edge to the silver and cream fabrics of the business class cabin.

The Flight

On such short flights crew are often under pressure to offer a dining experience that doesn’t seem overly rushed or scaled-down. Crew quickly took orders for lunch, with a selection of duck or fish on offer, and served glasses of chilled local beer, Taittinger champagne and even Kazakhstan-made Snow Queen organic vodka, with an elegant efficiency rarely seen on short-haul domestic flights today. The meal, duck in a rich, scented tomato broth that smacked of the meeting of east and west, was perfectly cooked and served with a curated wine selection that includes a Louis Jadot Macon-Villages Chardonnay and a robust Italian Perugini Rosso Sangiovese. The meal was the perfect accompaniment to the stunning views of Kazakhstan’s steeps, which reached far to the horizon below.

Summary

Short-haul flights are the hardest for crew looking to impress regular travellers but we were surprised how effortless Air Astana maintain its sterling in-flight standards on such a short runs.

Almaty to Astana return in Business Class from US$350 per person. https://airastana.com

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