Vietjet Qazaqstan (formerly Qazaq Air, part of Sovico Group) has abandoned plans to take one of Kazakhstan's airports into trust management. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Adilbek Umraliyev, Chairman of the Management Board of Vietjet Qazaqstan, told Kursiv that negotiations on the possibility of taking an airport in Kazakhstan into trust management took place last year. "Yes, there was such a dialogue, but by the decision of the strategic investor, all priorities are focused on the development of the Vietjet Qazaqstan airline, because a very large investment project is ahead to develop at least 20 aircraft," he said.
Earlier this year, Andrew Cohen, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietjet Qazaqstan, told Kursiv that plans to obtain an airport in trust management in Kazakhstan were still being discussed.
The Vietnamese holding Sovico Group, which bought Qazaq Air from Samruk-Kazyna in 2024, was offered to take the airports of Turkistan and Kyzylorda into trust management for several years, Vice Minister of Transport Maksat Kaliakparov said in December 2024. The Vietnamese investor discussed the possibility of obtaining one of these airports for 5-20 years.
The loss-making Turkistan airport could become profitable within three years if transferred to the trust management of Vietnam's Sovico Group, the Department of Passenger Transport and Highways of the Turkistan Region Akimat told Kursiv in 2025. However, the akimats of these regions ultimately failed to reach an agreement with the investor.
Sovico Group previously acquired 49% of Qazaq Air shares, after which the carrier was renamed Vietjet Qazaqstan. The Vietnamese airline VietJet is owned by Sovico Group.
Qazaq Air was put up for sale in 2023, but the auctions repeatedly failed due to the lack of bidders meeting all conditions. Among the mandatory requirements was the repayment of the airline's debt to Samruk-Kazyna in the amount of 38 billion tenge.
Under the terms of several competitions, a foreign investor could count on 49% of Qazaq Air shares, while a domestic investor could count on all 100%. As a result, as Samruk-Kazyna told Kursiv, Sovico Group's subsidiary Central Asia Aviation Holdings Limited received 49%, and Kazasia Holdings Limited, registered in the AIFC and owned by Tahir Pham, received another 2%.
Samruk-Kazyna retained 49% of the shares. The transaction amount was 2 billion tenge, excluding the 38 billion tenge debt to be repaid over several years. Sovico Group also committed to buying 20 Boeing 737 8 Max or Airbus A321 aircraft and regularly investing in the carrier's development.
Akim of Pavlodar Region Asain Baikhanov noted that regular flights from Pavlodar to Astana and Almaty will begin on September 1. This year, Vietjet's first flight from Astana to Pavlodar carried 71 passengers.
Airport reconstruction work has been underway since March 31, 2025. Asain Baikhanov noted that the airport's runway, 2,500 meters long and 60 meters wide (previously 45 meters wide), has been completely renovated.
The second phase will involve the reconstruction of the airport building itself, but the akim assured that these works will not affect the airport's operations.
In addition, the possibility of opening flights from Pavlodar to Aktobe, Aktau and Shymkent is being discussed. Among international flights, the first planned route is from Novosibirsk to Pavlodar, then to Tashkent and back the same way. Relevant negotiations are underway and will be completed by the end of September.
"Novosibirsk-Pavlodar-Tashkent-Tashkent-Pavlodar-Novosibirsk. On the Uzbek side, agreements have already been reached that this is generally supported. We are now negotiating with the Novosibirsk side so that this flight connects in Pavlodar, refuels and heads to Novosibirsk," he said, noting that interest in the new international flight is high.
Ticket prices to Novosibirsk and Tashkent will be market-based. The ticket price from Pavlodar to Astana is 15,000 tenge, as it is subsidized from the local budget, while the ticket price to Almaty will depend on market conditions, as it is not subsidized from the budget.
"An unsubsidized flight – pricing will be market-based depending on load... In 2025, the last flight flew from here (Pavlodar) to Almaty, I remember we bought tickets for our family, I sent my family, the price was about 67,000 tenge," said Asain Baikhanov.
Flights from Pavlodar to Astana are scheduled four times a week, from Almaty to Pavlodar – daily.
"When flights to Aktobe open, we will also subsidize them. So prices will also be low, but the specific price has not yet been approved," Baikhanov said.
According to him, airlines must agree on the necessary conditions by the end of September.
"We plan that part of the funds (for servicing flights to Aktau, Aktobe and Shymkent) will be subsidized on a parity basis by the regions. That is, I am already talking with my colleagues that if we are talking about the Pavlodar-Shymkent flight, then half of the subsidies are paid by Shymkent, half by Pavlodar Region. When we finally agree, I think it will be the third decade of September," the akim said.
Reconstruction of the Pavlodar airport building is planned to begin in 2027. The reconstruction of the Pavlodar airport runway was planned from April 1 to November 1, 2025, but the work was delayed by almost a year.
At the end of 2025, Kursiv reported that the runway reconstruction would only be completed by September 2026. In 2024, the akimat signed a contract with the Ust-Kamenogorsk company Kyrylys Group RK (sole owner – Anna Korobetskikh) for 16.4 billion tenge.
4.8 billion tenge was allocated from the National Fund for the project, and another 2.2 billion tenge in 2025 (of which 0.6 billion from the republican budget and 1.6 billion from the regional budget). Of this, 1.7 billion tenge was disbursed, which is 76.5% of the planned volume.