Dear Air Astana flyer,

I would like to wish you and your families a very happy New Year and festive season. Many of you will have decided to escape the northern winter and head for the tropical sun, or be thinking of so doing, and if so perhaps the cover feature of Koh Chang, one of Thailand’s more peaceful islands, or Vietnam’s spectacular central coast, or languid Kerala, all accessible through Air Astana’s regular flights to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Delhi, will provide an escape from the cold. However for those of you who, like me, enjoy winter’s cut-glass blue skies and the crunch of fresh snow under foot or ski, take care not to miss out – and since locals know it well this is primarily addressed to our foreign flyers – on a visit to Shymbulak, Almaty’s pretty and wellorganised winter sports resort. In 2011 Shymbulak hosted the Asian Winter Games, followed last year by the Universiade games, the legacy of which is a resort with excellent lifts, a good variety of on and off piste skiing and snowboarding for all levels, English-speaking instructors, high quality equipment for hire, children’s clubs and play areas, and a good variety of reasonably priced restaurants and bars.

For non-skiers, the resort-bound cable car ride alone is worth the trip – it is one of the world’s longest, and affords a spectacular introduction to the Tien Shan mountains. The Tien Shan, as you will probably know, initiates the ‘Spine of Asia’ high peak system, which continues through the Pamir and Karakoram ranges to its monumental final act in the Himalaya.

In 2017, the year of EXPO, I talked frequently in this column of Astana, and with good reason. Kazakhstan’s capital is one of Asia’s most innovative, spectacular, and harmonious new cities. However Almaty, too, has so much more to offer these days. Its benign climate and breathtaking location have always made it an attractive place to live so unsurprisingly, it has long had a thriving tourism and cultural scene. However recent innovations, such as street markets and pedestrianised areas, a new metro, an ever-developing line-up of restaurants, bars, music clubs, hotels and shopping centres, give absolute credence to a recent comment by its mayor that Almaty can now lay claim to being the “Hong Kong of Central Asia”. Having lived for many years in both cities, I can testify to that fact.

I wish you a pleasant flight with us today.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Foster

President & CEO

Air Astana