Air Astana is preparing to add Salalah to its network with weekly nonstop flights from both Almaty and Astana later this month. The Almaty service is scheduled to begin on Friday, October 23, 2026, followed by the Astana service on Saturday, October 24. Both routes are planned with Airbus A320 aircraft, giving travellers in Kazakhstan two departure points for southern Oman.
Two cities, separate weekly schedules
The Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan confirmed the routes on October 9. Its announcement specifies one flight per week on each city pair: Fridays from Almaty and Saturdays from Astana. Those are separate weekly services, rather than a daily operation or a flight that stops at both Kazakhstan airports before reaching Oman.
The authority also noted existing SalamAir service between Almaty and Muscat. That is a different route and operator. Air Astanaβs new destination is Salalah, so references to an established KazakhstanβOman connection should not be mistaken for evidence that these particular Salalah flights are already operating. The new services remain scheduled to start on the stated October dates.
Check the Almaty departure date carefully
AeroRoutesβ original schedule report identifies the flights as KC8267 and KC8268 between Almaty and Salalah, and KC8269 and KC8270 between Astana and Salalah. Its Almaty timetable applies from October 30, one week after the inaugural service. From that date, the outbound flight is scheduled to leave Almaty at 07:30 and reach Salalah at 12:40, with the return departing at 13:50 and arriving at 20:20.
For Astana, the published Saturday schedule shows an 08:35 departure and a 14:40 arrival in Salalah. The return is scheduled to depart at 16:00 and reach Astana at 23:25. These are local airport times. Comparing clock readings across countries is not, by itself, a calculation of elapsed flight time.
TTR Weeklyβs airline-sourced report gives different timings for the inaugural Almaty flight on October 23: departure at 10:05 and arrival in Salalah at 15:15, followed by a 16:25 return departure and a 22:55 arrival in Almaty. It then confirms the earlier departure pattern from October 30. Travellers should therefore check the timetable for their exact travel date rather than assume that the first flight and subsequent weekly flights share identical times.
A nonstop option for southern Oman
In separate reporting by AeroTime, the new services are explicitly described as nonstop. The publication identifies Salalah as Air Astanaβs first destination in Oman and describes it as a gateway to the countryβs southern mountains. This is the Salalah expansion; aircraft or cabin details associated with other newly announced Air Astana routes should not be carried across to these flights.
For itinerary planning, the most important details are the departure city, operating day and date-specific schedule. With one weekly flight from each Kazakhstan base, the choice of outbound and return dates will matter. The two services offer different departure days, but neither announcement establishes additional weekly frequencies beyond those listed. Any later increase would require a separate schedule update. Published schedules can change, so the final booking itinerary should remain the reference for travel.
Image: AI-generated conceptual editorial illustration, not a photograph of a specific event or facility.
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