Air Astana, the award-winning Kazakh flag carrier, marked its sixteenth anniversary with the opening of a new Aviation Technical Centre at Astana’s Nursultan Nazarbayev international airport. The new Aviation Technical Centre enables Air Astana to undertake all aircraft engineering and servicing requirements up to heavy maintenance level. The project was financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at a cost of US$ 19 million.

The Aviation Technical Centre’s energy efficient, single span hangar offers 5,500 square meters of floor space and can accommodate a widebody type like the Boeing 787 or Boeing 767 alongside a single aisle aircraft like the latest Airbus A320neo family at the same time. The Canadian designed structure is built to a very high specification and designed to remain fully operational even under the extremely low temperatures experienced in Astana during winter months. In addition to the hangar, the Aviation Technical Centre incorporates a spare parts warehouse and a complete range of workshops for the repair and overhaul of aircraft components. An auxiliary building provides space for the existing Air Astana Engineering and Centre to significantly expand training of engineering and maintenance staff to international standards.