New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS): National carrier and Star Alliance member Air India has signed a free flow code-share agreement with Air Astana JSC, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, an official statement said here Wednesday.

Rohit Nandan, chairman and managing director, Air India and Richard Ledger, vice president - sales worldwide, Air Astana JSC signed the agreement under which Air India (AI) would code share as marketing carrier on flights operated daily by Air Astana (KC) on Delhi-Almaty sector.

"With this, AI has opened its second gateway in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS countries) after introduction of flight to Moscow making strong inroads in the Russian subcontinent.

This code share will also facilitate the historically strong flow of corporate traffic from oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and information technology sector and Indian students studying in central Asian region," the statement said.

"This agreement has enabled Air India to reach out to the CIS and eastern European market. We look forward to expand our relationship with Air Astana in future," it quoted Nandan as saying.

Air India already has code share partnerships with 14 other airlines across the globe and Air Astana will be its 15th code share partner. Air Astana is the only carrier in eastern Europe and CIS countries flying with the SKYTRAX-4 star tag, the statement added.