Kazakhstan plans to expand Boeing aircraft fleet, open Embraer service center

ASTANA. Sept 23 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is hoping to receive new aircraft from American company Boeing Co. in the near future, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.

"The flagship Air Astana and SCAT airlines actively use Boeing airplanes, which form the basis of our civil aviation fleet. We are working to expand our partnership with Boeing and hope to receive additional new aircraft in the coming years," Tokayev was quoted by his press service as saying in his speech at a roundtable with American business representatives in New York.

Tokayev also said that there were wide-ranging opportunities for cooperation with the U.S. in transportation and logistics and that the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) opened up significant prospects.

The Kazakh president also met with the CEO of Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer, Francisco Gomes Neto, at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York, with whom he discussed potential partnership opportunities in the field of cargo transportation.

"The Kazakh President said that the country was striving to establish itself as a key transport and logistics hub in the Eurasian region," the president's press service said in its statement.

Tokayev and Neto discussed the possibility of opening a regional service center for Embraer aircraft in Kazakhstan. Neto talked highly of Kazakhstan's transit and transportation potential and confirmed that Embraer was willing to continue collaborating with the country, the statement said.

Embraer was founded in 1969 with the support of the Brazilian government. It is the third largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the world after Boeing and Airbus.