The airline was established and started operations in 1997. It is owned by Vladimir Denissov (53%) and Vladimir Sytnik (47%). Its name is the contraction of Special Cargo Air Transport.

In April 2007, Scat Air introduced a BAC One-Eleven 500 (licence built by Rombac in Romania), registration EX-103, to its fleet for services between Shymkent, Astana and Almaty as well as on the route to Moscow-Domodedovo via Taraz. A further One-Eleven (EX-086), this one British-built by BAC itself, from the same source followed in June 2007. Both are ex-TAROM aircraft. The aircraft were returned to the lessors in May 2008.

SCAT founded Sunday Airlines as a new charter venture and subsidiary, for which SCAT operates four Boeing 757-200s as well as one Boeing 767-300ER.

SCAT Airlines was on the list of air carriers banned in the European Union until 8 December 2016. The ban was imposed by the European Commission in consultation with member states' aviation authorities after an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), found the Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Committee (CAC) to be non-compliant in key areas of regulatory oversight. This resulted in a blanket ban of all Kazakhstan-registered airlines from flying to, from or within the European Union by the EU's Air Safety Committee (ASC). (Competitor and flag carrier Air Astana was partially excluded from the blacklist because its aircraft are registered in the Caribbean island of Aruba.) In 2012 SCAT was awarded its European EASA Part 145 Aircraft Maintenance approval and in November 2015 was awarded its IATA accreditation having successfully passed the IOSA audit programme. SCAT Airlines is working to establish further professional accreditations.

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Wikipedia