Environmental policy
Reducing our Company’s environmental impact is an indispensable element of our sustainable development. With that in mind, our environmental protection programme includes the following key priorities:
- Resource management, including the development and implementation of technologies to ensure efficient use of natural resources;
- Taking steps to avoid contributing to man-made climate change and paying suitable compensation for any environmental damage caused;
- Monitoring the environmental impact of our business operations;
- Ensuring environmental protection in line with international standards.
As part of our overall Policy on Health and Safety Management, we conduct regular audits to ensure stringent compliance with international standards on atmospheric emissions. We are able to keep our emissions at low levels by focusing on our fleet: in addition to operating young and efficient aircraft whenever possible, we are also taking steps to modify older aircraft that do not meet emissions standards.
A young fleet
Our Company is the only airline in Kazakhstan operating aircraft from the Airbus A319/320/321 family. In addition to offering passengers a high level of comfort, all of these aircraft are also very environmentally friendly, ensuring the best fuel economy and lowest levels of emissions and noise footprint in their class. The Airbus A320 NEO features innovative Pratt & Whitney engines that are 15% more fuel-efficient than their predecessors. Air Astana’s first Airbus A320 NEO was delivered and put into service in November 2016. The A320 NEO will operate on domestic flights, as well as international flights to China, India, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Our Company also operates a number of Boeing 757–200 aircraft, which feature innovative technologies enabling excellent fuel efficiency, low noise levels, a high level of comfort and excellent operating performance.
Aircraft modifications
Modifying aircraft through the addition of winglets (Boeing) or sharklets (Airbus), provides two benefits: first, they enable greater fuel efficiency; and, second, by improving aerodynamics, they make more rational flight routing possible.
Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions
Our Health and Safety Department monitors compliance with applicable environmental regulations and ensures the timely maintenance of all liquid-fuelled equipment—aircraft, diesel power plants, special-purpose vehicles and automobiles—an important step towards lowering emissions of greenhouse gases.
In addition to controlling emissions, our environmental protection efforts also focus on recycling. For example, we separate all of our waste paper and recycle PET bottles and used batteries. In 2017, we also began recycling two other types of waste: metal shavings and waste water used to wash wheels and brakes. Last year, some 130,000 litres of waste water was removed our authorised contractor, PromTehnoResurs. By improving our collection and transfer procedures, we increased the volume of our recycled waste paper by 13 tonnes in 2017 year-on-year.
Total solid waste by hazard grade | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Grade 1 (Amber List of waste) | Astana: 2.191 tonnes Almaty: 6.465 tonnes | Astana: 2.577 tonnes Almaty: 6.708 tonnes | Astana: 3.205 tonnes Almaty: 7.969 tonnes |
Grade 2 (Green List of waste) | Astana: 24.182 tonnes Almaty: 1.020 tonnes (excluding solid waste) | Astana: 55.025 tonnes Almaty: 2,913 tonnes | Astana: 81.657 tonnes Almaty: 2,905 tonnes |
Tonnes | |
---|---|
Reuse (waste paper) | 80.87 |
Other (disposed of by an authorised contractor) | Hazardous waste Astana: 3.340 tonnes Almaty: 9.059 tonnes Solid waste Astana: 81.522 tonnes Almaty: 2,904 tonnes |
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
---|---|---|---|
Modernisation (monitoring systems in Astana and Almaty, schedules, containers, maximum permitted emissions, KIOSH | USD 5,485 | USD 3,296 | USD 4,819 |
Grade 2 (Green List of waste) | Astana: USD 433 Almaty: USD 91,672 | Astana: USD 1,185 Almaty: USD 57,411 | Astana: USD 1,914 Almaty: USD 61,706 |
Emissions treatment | Astana: USD 388 Almaty: USD 2,066 | Astana: USD 332 Almaty: USD 1,366 | Astana: USD 372 Almaty: USD 1,555 |
Total | USD 100,044 | USD 63,589 | USD 70,367 |
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
---|---|---|---|
Costs of measures to reduce environmental impact and for the environmental management system | USD 96,661 | USD 63,589 | USD 53,190 |
Staff for education and training | USD 681 | USD 1,032 | USD 531 |
External services for the environmental management system | USD 5,485 | USD 3,296 | USD 4,820 |
Research and development | USD 4,804 | USD 951 | USD 2,090 |
Additional costs for the implementation of clean technologies(containers for batteries) | USD 280 | USD 756 | |
Other costs related to environmental management | USD 85,690 | USD 58,030 | USD 44,994 |
Total | USD 96,661 | USD 63,589 | USD 53,189 |
Emissions
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Reason for significant changes in emissions that triggered a recalculation of base-year emissions | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Greenhouse-gas emissions, in metric tonnes of CO₂ or equivalent | Almaty: 678.319 Astana: 730.611 | Almaty: 671.468 Astana: 700.175 | Almaty: 700.2149 Astana: 697.088 | Diesel power plants in Almaty are operated more intensively compared to Astana |
Total energy consumption | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Electricity (kW) | 2,572,598 | 2,272,981 | 2,680,210 |
Heat (Gcal) | 620 | 600 | 640 |
Educational projects
Given the importance of environmental issues for our business, we hold environmental competitions to promote environmental awareness, organise events to celebrate World Environment Day and run internal campaigns to educate staff on environmental protection. In 2017, we held a drawing competition for employees’ children called “The Environment: The World through Children’s Eyes”. The winning drawings were printed in our 2018 corporate desk calendars.