Air Astana is an airline group and the flag carrier of Kazakhstan. Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the airline, previously jointly owned by the Government of Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems PLC (49%), has since February 2024 been publicly listed on the London, Astana, and Almaty Stock Exchanges. It is the largest airline in Central Asia and the Caucasus region with 69% and 40% of market share on domestic and intra-regional routes from Kazakhstan.

Almaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata, is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of over two million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936, while the country was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union, then from 1936 to 1991, a union republic and finally from 1991, an independent state. In 1997, the government relocated the capital to Akmola.