FlyArystan Appoints Executive from European Airline as CEO

FlyArystan has announced the appointment of a new president. From 1 March, this will be Johan Eidhagen, a Swede who has worked for the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air for several years, Orda.kz reports

Eidhagen will replace Richard Ledger in the role. Ledger will become Vice President for Partnerships and Alliances at Air Astana, which includes the flagship carrier of the same name and low-cost airline FlyArystan. He will be responsible for developing new codeshare partnerships—arrangements under which airlines sell tickets on each other’s flights to expand their customer base. Recently, Air Astana signed codeshare agreements with China Southern Airlines and Air India.

Eidhagen has worked at Wizz Air Abu Dhabi since 2015, where he has overseen ESG initiatives and operational management at different times. Under his leadership, the airline launched flights to Almaty, Astana, and Turkestan. However, the operation was wound down in September last year due to instability in the Middle East. Currently, Wizz Airoperates flights to Abu Dhabi from its Budapest hub, but does not operate flights from Abu Dhabi to other cities.

This is the second major reshuffle within the Air Astana group in recent months. Last year, Peter Foster, the group’s long-serving head, announced his departure. From 1 March, he will be replaced by Ibrahim Zhanliel, who has worked at the group since 2003.

The Samruk-Kazyna Fund owns 41% of Air Astana’s shares. Citibank holds 37.5% as the nominee holder of depositary receipts, and BAE Systems owns a further 16.95%. In the first nine months of 2024, the group earned a net profit of 16.4 billion tenge (down from 24.8 billion tenge a year earlier), with assets totalling 1.1 trillion tenge (848.2 billion tenge as of 1 October 2024).

Until 2024, FlyArystan operated as a structural unit of Air Astana without its own separate legal entity. However, ahead of the group’s IPO, it was reorganised into an Air Astana subsidiary.

Original author:Alexey Afonsky