Air Astana A321 neo LR business class - BANGKOK-ALMATY

On a clear day, you'll get spectacular views of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush

- Dominic Keith

BACKGROUND Kazakh flag carrier Air Astana launched its first service between Almaty and Astana in 2002. Today, the Air Astana Group, which includes low-cost carrier FlyArystan, serves more than 90 destinations across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The group has 45 aircraft, and its expansion continues, both in terms of fleet size and network. Air Astana is currently renewing its entire fleet with long-range Airbus A321 neo aircraft, and will add its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in 2025.

Air Astana’s A321 neo-LR aircraft were the first in the industry to feature ‘throne seats’ – single seats in a 1-1 configuration, as opposed to the standard 2-2 configuration. Other airlines, including Aer Lingus on its A321 LRs and Singapore Airlines on its Boeing 737 MAXs, have since joined the ‘throne seat’ club.

CHECK-IN We arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport at 0830 for the 1015 flight KC932 to Almaty. The Air Astana counters are toward the end of the terminal, in the ‘U’ check-in area. There was a short queue for business class and quite an impressive queue for economy, which made it clear this was going to be a full flight.

Having a business class ticket meant I was able to access Suvarnabhumi’s expedited security and immigration facilities, which still took a bit of time given how busy the airport was, but was far preferable to the regular access, where we struggled to even identify the end of the queue.