Air Astana

Air Astana is Kazakhstan's main carrier, flying from Almaty and Astana across Central Asia and out to the Gulf, East Asia and Western Europe. The fleet mixes Airbus narrowbodies, an Embraer E190-E2 for the thinner routes and a pair of long-haul types that carry the airline's ambitions.

Two aircraft are worth knowing by name. The Boeing 767-300ER gives every business seat direct aisle access and a bed that folds fully flat, and the A321LR carries a true lie-flat business cabin on a single-aisle jet, still a rare piece of hardware anywhere. The rest of the fleet keeps business class as distinct wide recliners rather than a curtain moved down the cabin.

The 767-300ER seats 30 in business at one-two-one, every seat aisle-adjacent and just over half of them solo positions by the windows, ahead of a 193-seat economy in the 767's traveller-friendly 2-3-2. The A321LR carries 16 lie-flat business seats at 45-inch pitch converting to full-length flat beds, four of them solo, plus an economy cut at 33-inch pitch, deeper than the rest of the narrowbody fleet.

The A321ceo and A321neo each carry 28 business recliners at 38-inch pitch and 21 inches wide over seven rows, with 3-3 economy at 31 inches behind. The A320neo trims that to 16 business seats at a shallower 33-inch pitch, and the E190-E2 rounds out the fleet with a 12-seat business section at 34-inch pitch on the same 2-2 footprint as its no-middle-seat economy.

Long haul means the 767 or the A321LR, and both sleep well. The 767 adds widebody calm and a 2-3-2 economy with a single middle seat per row; the LR answers with newer cabins, XL overhead bins and that single-aisle flat bed. Narrowbody business across the Airbus fleet is a wide recliner, at its most generous on the A321s.

Economy is consistent: 18-inch-wide seats at 31-inch pitch on the Airbus jets, rising to 33 inches on the LR. The E190-E2 gives everyone a window or an aisle, with its forward economy rows cut roomier than the rear. Note that the A321ceo still runs overhead screens, so a loaded tablet is worth packing.

On the 767 the solo window seats are the business picks to chase, while the centre pairs work for couples, and the first row has a lavatory directly ahead. In economy the window pairs dodge the middle-seat lottery entirely; the bulkhead and the mid-cabin exit band hold the legroom, with lavatory-adjacent rows forward and rear to steer around.

On the A321LR the four solo business seats go first for good reason. On the A321neo the last business row and the economy bulkhead both sit near lavatories, and Air Astana flies both A321neo fits, so confirm whether your flight carries the recliner cabin or the lie-flat one. The E190-E2 hides a long rear run of window seats that meet their windows at the wrong point; sit forward for the better glass and the deeper pitch.