Kazakhstan’s aviation industry is showing signs of rapid recovery as restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic are gradually lifted, the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development said.

“In the first nine months of 2021, the number of passengers carried increased by 81 percent to 6.9 million,” the ministry’s Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement.

“The number of people receiving services at airports rose 70 percent to 12.6 million compared to 7.4 million in the same period of 2020 and12.3 million in 2019.”

The committee said both domestic and international routes had been restored – 57 routes within Kazakhstan with 744 flights per week and 63 routes to 23 countries with 247 flights per week.

On average, the committee said, scheduled provided for 106 domestic flights and 35 international flights.

International destinations included Turkey, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Georgia, Tajikistan, Poland, the Netherlands, Montenegro, Armenia, Britain, Hungary, the Maldives, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.