On July 22, 2026, Air Astana asked United States regulators for permission to fly to America for the first time. Kazakhstan’s flag carrier filed an application for exemption authority with the US Department of Transportation, seeking to operate scheduled and charter service between Kazakhstan and the United States. No airline flies that link today.
What the airline asked for
The filing, logged under docket DOT-OST-2026-3037-0001, requests authority to carry passengers, cargo, and mail from points in Kazakhstan through intermediate points to the United States and beyond. Air Astana named Almaty and Astana as the departure cities and New York as the destination, with a target launch in 2027.
The airline plans to fly the route with a 303-seat Boeing 787-9, the widebody it is now adding to a fleet built mostly around Airbus jets. It expects its first two 787-9s from Boeing late in 2026 and a third in 2027. Uganda Airlines placed its own first Boeing widebody order earlier this year, part of a wider push by smaller carriers into long-haul flying.
The aircraft behind the plan
Air Astana expects its first two Boeing 787-9s in late 2026 and a third in 2027. Those are the jets it would use to reach the United States, giving it the range for its longest routes yet.
Why a nonstop is so hard
On a map, the shortest path from Kazakhstan to New York runs north across Russia and over the pole. That is the problem. The great-circle route between the two countries, more than 6,000 miles (9,700 km), sits largely over airspace Air Astana will not use.
Speaking at a September 2025 investor day, then-chief executive Peter Foster said a nonstop Almaty to New York flight would require Russian overflight. With that ruled out, the airline has been studying a European intermediate stop instead. The application does not confirm whether the first New York service would be nonstop or make a stop, a distinction that changes the traffic rights the carrier needs.
The rating that has to come first
Before any of this can happen, Kazakhstan itself needs a safety rating it does not yet hold. The FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment program rates a country’s civil aviation authority, not an individual airline, and a carrier cannot begin scheduled US service until its home regulator earns Category 1 status.
Kazakhstan is absent from the FAA’s most recent published assessment list, meaning it currently holds neither Category 1 nor Category 2. The country’s Senate approved aviation-law amendments in June 2026 aimed at bringing its oversight closer to international standards. Air Astana says it will start US flights only once that Category 1 rating is in place.
Reality check
This is an exemption application, not an approved route. Air Astana still needs Kazakhstan to earn an FAA Category 1 rating, has not said whether the New York service would fly nonstop or stop in Europe, and is targeting a 2027 launch that depends on both. Treat the plan as an intention, not a schedule.
Sources and references used for research and fact-checking.
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