Charity

Our company plays an active role in the communities where WE OPERATE, and WE HAVE established a Community Investment Committee to oversee all OUR charitable projects. The Committee, which includes four representatives of the Corporate Communications and Sales and Marketing teams, identifies and selects charities and funding projects that bring value to communities and that are aligned with OUR activities and values.

One area where we have been active for many years is in providing free flights for sick children and their families travelling for medical purposes. In 2017, we contributed USD 117,432 for 124 tickets for severely ill children and their parents. In addition, we raised USD 3,600 through donation boxes at our ticket offices in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau as part of a charity project run by the Ayala Foundation. The purpose of the project is to purchase modern equipment for children’s intensive-care units at infectious-disease hospitals in Kazakhstan. In total, USD 41,401 has been raised since the campaign began in 2010.

Our Company has established the following charity-related priorities for 2018:

  • cooperation with charity funds;
  • social sponsorship;
  • volunteering on the part of employees in charity projects.
Community investments, USDCalculated by the weighted average rate of the tenge to the US dollar
OurCompany

social
Projects implemented in 2017
Project target Project name Description
Veterans Provision of flight tickets for veterans of the Great Patriotic War In 2017, we provided 3,914 flight tickets to veterans of the Great Patriotic War for travel in Kazakhstan and to the CIS.
Medicine Provision of flight tickets for severely ill children and their accompanying parents In 2017, 124 flight tickets were provided to severely ill children and their accompanying parents.
Provision of modern equipment for children’s intensive-care units at infectious-disease hospitals in Kazakhstan In 2017, USD 41,401 was raised through donation boxes installed at ticket offices in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau as part of a charity project by the Ayala Foundation aimed at providing modern equipment for children’s intensive-care units at infectious-disease hospitals in Kazakhstan.
Purchase of equipment for the Republican Children’s Clinical Hospital in Aksai In 2017, we also purchased equipment for the Republican Children’s Clinical Hospital in Aksai in the amount of nearly USD 2,760.
Education Support for the Press Service of Kindness contest Our Company and the Interfax news agency joined forces to provide support for a contest organised among local journalists, with the intention of contributing to the Ayala Foundation.
Arranged a tour to EXPO 2017 for children living at SOS village The children visited our stand, they met pilot Konstantin Sklyarov. They also watched a film about our Company and visited various exhibitions.
Visit by Kazakhstan students and teachers to Cranfield University The winners were selected from all 16 regions of Kazakhstan during a three-day try-out. In the United Kingdom, the Kazakhstan delegation took part in a number of activities associated with the study of aerospace technologies.
Open all
Hide all
Support for the Press Service of Kindness contest

To mark its tenth anniversary, the Ayala Foundation, a long-standing partner of Air Astana, held a unique contest, the Press Service of Kindness.

Purpose

The purpose of the contest run by the charitable foundation was to recognise Kazakhstani journalists who write stories about the altruistic acts of individuals driven by selfless motives. We provided some amazing prizes for the winners: tickets for flights to Tbilisi, St Petersburg, Hong Kong, and Paris.

Implementation

Over 70 members of the media from across the country took part in the contest. The judges included Svetlana Romanova from the Interfax news agency; Tlek Abdrakhimov, Corporate Communications Manager with Air Astana; and Zhangeldy Sarsenov, the Ayala Foundation’s Vice President for Public Relations. They were faced with a difficult task: they had to select a short list of just five entrants, although each of the bidders was worthy of a prize.

“It was a challenge to judge the entries – all the stories that were submitted dealt with some very important subjects, telling readers about selfless Kazakhstani citizens who did good things driven by their heart rather than by the desire to get hype or popularity”, said Tlek Abdrakhimov.

Outcome

Third place was taken by Tatiana Aladiina, a journalist with the Express K newspaper. Her prize will be a trip to Georgia. Aisha Kireyeva from Uralsk finished in second place and won an air ticket to St Petersburg. The first prize, a ticket on a flight to Hong Kong, went to Daria Zhumadilova, an Ekibastuz-based reporter. The Grand Prix was awarded to Astana-based Renat Tahkinbayev, who will soon fly to Paris.

EXPO-2017 for the children living at SOS village

the Ayala Foundation organised a series of tours to bring children from orphanages and foster homes from across Kazakhstan to EXPO 2017 with seven children on average taking a tour every week. The foundation’s partners, including OUR COMPANY, covered the expenses for related travel, accommodation and meals.

Purpose

The foundation and management of major companies that supported the initiative believe that such trips can prove more valuable than a truck-load of food or clothes because the EXPO is above all about saying that people can achieve anything they want. All the wind turbines and solar panels, electric vehicles, smart homes and other products showcased at the EXPO were once also just someone’s dream. The EXPO needs to inspire those who will live and develop the nation and our planet in the coming decades.

Implementation

It took five hours for children who came from an Esil-based orphanage to take a tour of the EXPO, including a tour of Kazakhstan’s Nur Alem sphere, a visit to the Arts Centre, and a quest in one of the EXPO’s pavilions.

The children learned many new and exciting things in physics, chemistry, and geometry. They can learn all they want about kinetic energy, but a single ride on a bicycle fitted with LED lamps that provide light as long as they keep pedalling can tell them a lot more. Game-based learning is still a concept not readily available to schools in Kazakhstan, because its adoption requires huge investment. Still, it was widely showcased at EXPO 2017, including robots that teach the basics of painting.

The children visited our stand, where they met pilot Konstantin Sklyarov. He told the young visitors about interesting cases that happened in the sky and the peculiarities of job of being a pilot. After that, the children watched a film about our Company and visited various exhibitions.

Outcome

The children had a go at developing computer mini-games, moulding mock-ups, inventing alternative energy sources, or just making drawings to present their vision of our planet’s future. With volunteers at the EXPO showing great care for these little creators, every child developed a strong faith in the whole world of unlimited opportunities.

Visit by students and teachers from Kazakhstan to Cranfield University

OUR COMPANY and the Ministry of Justice, the Samruk-Kazyna Trust Social Development Foundation, and Nazarbayev University initiated a visit by students and teachers FROM KAZAKHSTAN TO Cranfield University to attend a seven-day aerospace technology seminar. The SEMINAR, WHICH WAS ATTENDED BY 36 STUDENTS AND SIX TEACHERS, WAS HELD 6-13 AUGUST IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Purpose

The purpose of the visit was to provide networking opportunities for talented young people in the aerospace industry and a sustainable platform for academic research and cultural exchanges within the industry related to our Company’s business.

Implementation

The winning students were selected from all 16 regions of Kazakhstan during a three-day try-out that was held in June. Before their departure, the students visited our EXPO stand, which was showcasing the technologies used by our Company to improve efficiency and reduce fuel burn. In the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan’s delegation took part in a number of activities associated with the study of aerospace technologies. The course programme included lectures by Guy Gratton, Head of Airborne Science and Technology at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science in the United Kingdom; and Nick Lawson, Professor of Aerodynamics and Airborne Measurement at Cranfield University, as well as lectures by numerous other internationally recognised lecturers and professionals in the aviation industry.

In October 2017, our Company and the British Council in Kazakhstan arranged a meeting in London between Isaak Mustopulo, a 15-year-old student with cerebral palsy, and theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking.

Isaak had won a special prize in the national STEM Innovation Competition for people with disabilities held by the British Council and the National Agency for Technological Development. For the competition, Isaak submitted a video describing the process of power generation for spacecraft, in which he also talked about his dream of meeting his role model, Professor Hawking. The idea of making his dream a reality was the initiative of Asset Sekeshev, the Akim of Astana, and Peter Foster, President of Air Astana.

Outcome

Promising students were selected. They showed high potential for academic research and creative activities within the industry related to our Company’s business. Personal contacts were established between leading professors based at Cranfield University and these promising young specialists.