The airline was founded in 1999 as a business jet operator, Berkut Air, and since started domestic scheduled services. In 2008, Bek Air purchased shares of stock in Oral Ak Zhol Airport, which is currently a base airport for the company. Bek Air has committed to investing KZT10 million a month in order to reconstruct the airport's runway, which is in poor condition. In 2011, the airline was rebranded as Bek Air. On 27 December 2019, following the crash of Bek Air Flight 2100, the airline's operations were suspended until further notice by the Government of Kazakhstan. On 17 April 2020, the Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan —citing the airline's failure to correct safety violations—recalled Bek Air's air operator's certificate and the airworthiness certificates of its remaining Fokker 100 aircraft, stating that the company must undergo full certification anew before conducting airline operations.
Destinations
Bek Air's destinations included the following domestic airports:
As of October 2019, prior to ceasing operations, the Bek Air fleet consisted of the following aircraft:
Fleet development
Bek Air acquired its first Fokker 100 in 2012 after initially leasing aircraft from InvestAvia. In 2013, a second Fokker 100 was purchased from Mass Lease from the Netherlands and between 2014 and 2017, another 6 Fokker 100 aircraft were leased from Mass Lease. In 2019, 1 more Fokker 100 was bought from Air Panama. At the 2019 MAKS Air Show, at Zhukovsky International Airport, Moscow, Bek Air signed a letter of intent for 10 Irkut MC-21 aircraft. Delivery of the new aircraft was expected to be in the second half of 2021 and to replace the existing Fokker 100s.
On 27 December 2019, a Fokker 100 operating as Bek Air Flight 2100, headed to Nur-Sultan, crashed shortly after takeoff from AlmatyInternational Airport at 7:22 AM, killing twelve of the ninety-eight people on board. The aircraft was unable to climb and was lost on radar. It crashed into a concrete wall as well as a vacant two story building under construction. As a result, Bek Air's flight authorization after the accident was suspended by authorities.
