Kazakhstan's Air Astana extends Middle East flight suspensions through March 10

ALMATY. March 5 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Air Astana has extended the suspension of its scheduled flights to four Middle Eastern destinations through March 10, the carrier said Thursday.

"The airline group has canceled service to Dubai, Jeddah, Medina and Doha until at least March 10 and has temporarily halted ticket sales for those cities until March 17," it said in a press release.

"Passengers are being offered free rebooking through April 30, while refunds are available until March 11," the company said.

The company said it continues to monitor the situation in the Middle East and will inform passengers of any further changes.

The suspension follows a directive from Kazakhstan's aviation authority imposing a complete ban on flights over, into, or near the airspace of Iran, Israel, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon until further notice.

The initial suspension, which affected all Air Astana flights to the Middle East, was set to run through March 3.

On March 4, four Air Astana flights from Medina and Jeddah arrived in the Kazakh cities of Aktau and Atyrau, carrying a total of 640 citizens returning from the region.