Review of SCAT Airlines flight from Astana to Almaty in Economy

Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!

This report continues the theme of Kazakhstan aviation. In the previous FR I positioned from Almaty to Astana on the world's last (and very cool and swanky) B767-300ER of Air Astana.

The goal of my positioning to Astana was very avanturistic: to somehow fly on the rarest large narrowbody in Central Asia - Boeing 757-200 of Sunday Airlines. I already flew a B757 once - a longer -300 of Icelandair on KEF-CPH in 2023 (in 2024 both FI B753s were transferred to Fly Khiva in Uzbekistan). Even though FI still has some B752s, they have similar seats to the former B753s, and I wanted to try something different, especially considering how crazy expensive FI tickets are. The another European B752 operator - Jet2 - dumped these birds in 2024 before I even got certain with the idea to fly a B752. So, Kazakhstan seemed to be the last opportunity for me and this time in 2025 I decided to try my luck. 

In this FR I'll show how I managed to fly a Kazakh B752 and what was the flight experience (spoiler: mixed bag).

What Is Sunday Airlines And How To Fly Its B752

Sunday Airlines is the "holiday" subsidiary of the Kazakh second-largest airline SCAT (DV), operating flights from major Kazakh cities (Almaty, Astana, Shymkent and some others) to sunny destinations under DV code.

The fleet of Sunday Airlines consists of 3 aircrafts: 2000-built B763 (UP-B6703) in 2-class C12_Y278 layout, 1994-built B752 (UP-B5705) and 1991-built B752 (UP-B5703) - both in single-class all-economy layout Y235.

Speaking of B752s, most of their active time they are deployed on international "sunny" flights with patters like, say, NQZ-AYT-ALA-PQC-ALA-AYT-CIT-… , but sometimes they are deployed on domestic flights: for the purposes of repositioning between bases or operating instead of DV's B73X on some domestic flights.

The tricky thing is that B752s are assigned to domestic flights extremely unpredictable (even more unpredictable than Air China B748s are assigned now to PEK-SHA flights!). During the summer schedule one B752 usually does a very busy pattern between major KZ cities and sunny destinations (sometimes with domestic repositioning, like ALA-CIT), and the other serves as a spare frame for the case of irrops, and, considering the amount of the idle time of the latter, it can be sometimes used on random domestic flights. 

Towards the end of the summer schedule and in the beginning of the winter schedule one B752 gets grounded and the other serves "sunny" flights, which becomes much rarer than in the summer schedule, and also appears on some domestic flights: sometimes serving as positioning, sometimes - independent rotations from the bases (ALA or NQZ). In the winter B752s are mostly grounded in ALA, and domestic flights don't see them. 

In the 3rd decade of October 2025 it was clear that the only active B752 of that time - the "younger" UP-B5705 - is temporarily based in Astana. So, I decided to position there (on the KC B763) and try my luck with the hope that B752 will eventually appear on a domestic flight from NQZ.

When I came to Astana, I discovered that the Independence Day (25 October) was nearing (I didn't know this in advance) - the time of long holidays in Kazakhstan, when people travel around the country a lot and most of the flights on trunk routes like NQZ-ALA and NQZ-CIT can be completely sold. Don't you agree it's a good occasion for SCAT to deploy the additional capacity (B752), which is sitting idle in NQZ?

And yes - in the evening of October 25 DV deployed B752 on NQZ-CIT-NQZ rotation. But… I discover this flight on sale too late (in the late evening of October 24) and the last ticket literally slipped away from my hands just the next moment I found it. I was extremely frustrated, but my intuition was telling me that it's not the end and a new opportunity will open soon. 

And yes! - just the next morning (October 26) I discovered that DV put on sale another B752-operated flight - from NQZ to ALA, scheduled on very early morning October 28 (now you see how humble is the sales depth for B752 domestic flights!) and this time I reacted fast. DV is not FI, but the price was still quite steep - 102 EUR for 1.5-hours domestic flight on an ancient B752 (no "light" promo-fares, checked luggage included). Compare this with 65 EUR for ALA-NQZ on swanky KC B763 or with 78 EUR for PEK-SHA on CA B748! But there was seemingly no other way to (in fact a few days later DV again put B752 on several flights between Astana and Almaty, some with much better timing, but who could guess!), and I immediately put the trigger. 

Check-in opened 24 hours before departure (as for any DV flight) and I was able to freely select my seat.

Where To Fly A B757 In Late 2025

In the FR of ex-FI B753 on 2023 KEF-CPH flight I reviewed remaining B757 passenger operators as of September 2025. Now, in the very end of 2025, it's time to update this list, as B757 passenger fleets continues to quickly decline outside of US. 

B757-300 operators:

1) Delta Air Lines: 16 PW-powered units in 2-class layout (C24_Y210). Planned to stay in passenger service until 2030.

2) Fly Khiva: 2 RR-powered units (C22_Y203) - ex-Icelandair ones. Only 1 (the one I flew with Icelandair back in 2023) is currently active. Mostly operating to "sunny" or Hajj destination from Uzbekistan with rare domestic flights.

3) SkyLine Express: 2 RR-powered units (Y275), leased from Mavi Gok Airlines (ex-Condor birds). Currently only 1 is active, operating flights between HRG and some eastern EU cities.

4) United Airlines: 21 RR-powered units in 2-class layout (C24_Y210). UA probably will operate them until 2030.

B757-200 operators:

1) Azur Air: 4 PW-powered unit in single-class layout (Y238), operating flights from some Russian cities to "sunny" destinations and some domestic flights as well, plus 1 RR-powered unit in single-class layout (Y235) plus 1 RR-powered unit in single-class premium layout (C72).

2) Delta Air Lines: 53 PW-powered units in 2-class layout (C20_Y179 or C20_Y179) plus 6 PW-powered units in 2-class layout (C20_Y173) plus 13 PW-powered units in 2-class transatlantic layout (C16_Y152) plus 11 PW-powered units for special charter operations in single-class premium layout (C72).

3) Icelandair: 4 RR-powered units in 2-class layout (C22_Y161) plus 2 RR-powered units in 2-class layout (C20_Y164). All will be retired in 2026.

4) Sunday Airlines (SCAT subsidiary): 2 RR-powered units in single-class layout (Y235). 

5) United Airlines: 40 RR-powered units in 2-class transatlantic layout (C16_Y160).

If you have a passport of a First World country, allowing US visa waiver, it's easy to fly a B753 or B752, including the ones with rarest PW engines (DL is the world's only operator of PW-powered pax B753s)

If you are ineligible to enter the US and avoid visiting Russia, there are only 2 possibilities to fly a B753 (to/from/within Uzbekistan and to/from Egypt) and only 2 possibilities to fly a B752 (to/from Iceland, including some intra-Schengen flights, and to/from/within Kazakhstan). 

If you're able and not afraid to visit Russia, you can also fly a B752 there (including the only PW-powered ones outside of US), to/from/within Russia.

Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (NQZ)

As my flight DV1704 was scheduled in the middle of the night at 03:35 October 28, I arrived to NQZ in not late evening (considering that city bus connection operate only till 20:30) October 27 and had to wait quite a lot inside domestic T2. 

A night view of T2 from outside (where it was pitch dark and very cold).

The space under the dome of the sphere.

The elevators.

DV counters in the check-in hall. As I already had mobile BP and decided not to check-in my backpack, I didn't visit them.

Approximately 2 hours before the flight I went airside. Compared to the "spherical" landside, domestic gates area is quite dull, with no direct access to the window due to arrival galleries.

Anyway, there are some nice touches, highlighting Kazakh culture.

It turned out that UP-B5705 was at the moment operating a rotation to Aktobe (SCO) and its return flight got delayed, resulting in the delay of my flight for 45 minutes (de-facto more than 1 hour). But the queue started lining at the gate even before arrival of the aircraft. By that time I was already very sleepy and struggled to stay awake.

The Aircraft

And, finally, the aircraft appeared, arriving to the gate 4. Here it is - 31 y.o. RR-powered UP-B5705.

To complement these night photos, taken from suboptimal angles, I'll also show daylight photos of this B752 from good angles, taken on September 29 in CIT (from where I made a 2-week detour to Georgia and Armenia to meet with my friends). Back then on September 29 this bird made 2 consecutive rotations from CIT to NQZ. 

Sunday Airlines B752 LOPA

SCAT's (and Sunday Airlines' as well) LOPAs are not listed anywhere, so I'll show some screenshots from expertflyer for my DV1704 flight 3 hours before departure. As one can see, the flight was fully booked. 

As DV B752s are the high-density ones, they have the almost the same door formula as B753 - 4 pairs of major doors (but with no overwing exits), divides the full-economy cabin into 3. For comparison, FI B752s, as the lower density ones, have another door formula: with 3 pairs of major doors and 2 pairs of overwing exits and their fuselage is thus divided into 2 cabins: business between 1L/R and 2L/R and large economy in the rest part.

The front (not large, not small) cabin, located between 1L/R and 2L/R doors, is designated as rows 1-11

The middle (large) cabin, located between 2L/R and 3L/R doors, is designated as rows 30-59

And the rear (rather small) cabin, located between 3L/R and 4L/R doors, is designated as rows 60-69.

Boarding

Boarding commenced at gate 4 (with the new departure time being formally 04:20, but de-facto like 04:40), and was very chaotic, with the crowd of 235 passengers rushing into the jetbridge. What a contrast with quite respectable public flying on Air Astana flights!

Nose view before entering the jetbridge.

Wing view from the jetbridge.

The 2L door.

The Front Economy Cabin

A view of the front economy cabin (rows 1-11) from the 1R door.

The Middle Economy Cabin

Views of the large middle economy cabin (rows 30-49). Note that row 30 has 2-seater right block near 1R door (1st and 2nd photos in the gallery) and rows 48-49 only have right 3-seaters, because of the asymmetric layout of the lavatories: 2 lavs before 3L door and 1 lav before 3R door.

The Rear Economy Cabin

Some views of the small real economy cabin (rows 60-69). Instead of IFEs (like in ex-FI B753s) the are non-operative displays on the ceiling.

The 4R door, the 4L door and the crew's jumpseat near it, the jumpseat near 3L and the lavatory door nearby.

Tour de lavatoire before settling down in my seat. Ahh, these oldscool vibes.

The Economy Seat

My economy seat was 61F in the 2nd row of the small rear economy cabin. I chose it because I liked the rear small cabin in ex-FI B753, and the 61 row was quite near to the flaps. But something unexpected happened: the 61E seat ended occupied by an old disabled woman, who blocked me in my window seat! As the flight was full to the brim, I was unable to change the seat. 

The seat is pretty basic slimline one - without heardrest, with short armrest, with hard seatpocket and tray table. The recline button has nonstandard location - under the seat. The row pitch is acceptable, but not great.

The seatwidth is 17.1", which is expectable, considering the narrow fuselage of B757.

The overhead panel in oldschool, 737-classic-style, which is common for ancient B757. For comparison, the overhead panel in 2002-built ex-FI B753 is early B737NG-like.

The seatbelt buckle.

The seatpocket content: safety card, waste bag and inflight magazine with DV's network and fleet pages.

The Flight

A view of T2 NQZ with A320 FlyArystan nearby.

The cabin before departure.

Pushback begins; flaps go out into takeoff configuration.

Takeoff. And now I realized, why B752 is called "Ferrari of the skies". At the point of executive start, when the brakes were still applied, the vibrations from RR RB211 engines, increasing thrust, were clearly felt, and then the airplane rocketed to the night sky of Astana.

After a while after takeoff the cabin lighting went on. The vicinity of 3L/R doors and adjacent lavatories was all I could see, being blocked in my seat by the old lady. Thus, no inflight cabin views, sorry. 

A small bottle of water was all the inflight service. I remind that this flight was priced 1.5 times higher than KC flight with nice service. The crew, indeed, were very nice, and I found the crew's hospitality to be the rule on all Kazakh airlines I've flown.

The 1-hour delay of the departure resulted in the dawn in the sky, which was nice. Otherwise the whole flight would've been nighttime.

The daylight is gradually coming from the sky to the ground as we're already descending.

Spoilers deployed; turning left towards ALA and Ala-Too mountain range appears in sight.

Flaps out; continuing maneuring.

The severe beauty of Ala-Too

Flying over Sairan lake (and eponymous district of Almaty).

Flying over the central part of Almaty.

Flaps in the landing configuration; approaching ALA.

Touchdown; vacating the runway; flaps off.

Taxiing past long-grounded F100s of defunct (since end of 2019) Bek Air.

The single SCAT B733 (UP-B3721) in the centre with interntational T1 ALA and TK A332 on the backdrop.

A sad sight of a grounded A20N of FlyArystan (lowcost subsidiary of Air Astana group). As I mentioned in the previous FR, PW GTF engines from the KC Group's A20Ns are used to keep more valuable A21Ns airworthy.

Two Airbus C-295W of the Border Service of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Domestic T2 ALA in sight with a KC B763 nearby, which turns to be EI-KEC, which I reviewed in the previous FR. So, eventually I got to see it from good angles in daylight!

A Russian Bombardier Challenger 850 and a "follow me" car.

B763 (UP-B6703) of Sunday Airlines - the only widebody of SCAT Group. An ancient one (and with oldschool interiors), compared to swanky KC B763.

F100s of defunct airline Caspiy, which existed only from 2011 to 2014.

An abandoned Antonov An-28.

A Kazakh-registered EMB-135BJ Legacy 650.

Long-grounded (which resulted in livery, faded to pale) another B752 (UP-B5704) of Sunday Airlines, B735 (UP-3723) of SCAT, another EMB-135 Legacy and a Yakovlev Yak-40 of East Wing.

PW-powered A332 (TC-JIO) Turkish Airlines near the international T1 and Ala-Too mountains on the backdrop. I flew this aircraft in July 2023 on one of TK's shortest international routes from OTP to IST.

And here's our parking position with this A332 and T1 in sight. As one can see, I'm eventually released from my trap named 61F and taking photos from the left side. 

The Rear Economy Cabin After The Flight

Views of the small rear economy cabin upon disembarkment.

The 3L door.

The Middle Economy Cabin After The Flight

Views of the large middle economy cabin upon disembarkment.

The 1R door.

The Front Economy Cabin After The Flight

The crew thankfully permitted me to visit the front economy cabin for a short while. Note that row 1 has 2-seater block near the 1L door.

The Aircraft After The Flight

Time to leave the aircraft via 2L door and stair to the bus. 

Fuselage, wing and portside engine view from the stair.

The portside RR RB211 engine and the left main landing gear.

The nose of our B752 and the nose landing gear.

Last views of our beauty from the bus. BTW, her next flight that day was a "sunny" one - to PQC. Then the aircraft returned to ALA and operated a few domestic rotations to NQZ in subsequent days. If I had more patience, I would be able to fly her on NQZ-ALA a few days later with better timing of the flight. But, anyway, even though my flight wasn't perfect, I made it to fly this ultra-rare aircraft! 

Planespotting in ALA

A bit of planespotting from the bus, taking the passengers to the domestic T2.

A Turkish-registered Bombardier Global 5000.

Our sibling UP-B5702, stored since November 2022, and two stored CR2s of SCAT. UP-CJ011 is stored since August 2022, while UP-CJ004 has recently returned to passenger service. BTW, do you see the principle of tail numbers assignment in SCAT Group, depending on the aircraft type? 

And a bit of planespotting from the check-in hall of the international T1 (with very limited angle of view).

An E170 of Russian airline S7 and an unidentified departing cargo B744F (sorry for the foto, blurried because of angle of view through the glass).

A cargo B744F of Chinese airline SF, taxiing past another grounded FS A20N.

KC B763 (EI-KEA), being towed to T1.

Thank you for your attention and see you in the next FRs!