Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, celebrated the launch of a new direct route between Almaty and Shanghai on Thursday, highlighting its push to expand in the Chinese market amid rising cross-border travel demand.

The airline held a news conference in Shanghai to celebrate the service, which was inaugurated on March 29.

Operating three times a week, the Almaty–Shanghai route strengthens Air Astana's presence in China and complements its existing services to Beijing, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Sanya in Hainan province, as well as Urumqi and Yining in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The airline first entered the Chinese market in December 2002 with flights between Almaty and Beijing.

With Shanghai added to its network, the Air Astana Group — which includes Air Astana and its low?cost subsidiary FlyArystan — now operates up to 32 weekly flights between Kazakhstan and six Chinese cities, improving connectivity across Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe.

The carrier transported more than 250,000 passengers between Kazakhstan and China in 2025, marking a staggering 96 percent increase from a year earlier, according to company data.

"The launch of our Shanghai service is an important milestone in the development of our network and reflects the growing strength of ties between Kazakhstan and China," said Ibrahim Canliel, Air Astana's newly appointed chief executive officer. He added that demand in both business and leisure travel has been supported by visa-free policies.

Air Astana is set to introduce a new route between Astana and Guangzhou starting June 2 with twice-weekly flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.