FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government said it would buy 10 planes from Canada’s Bombardier to set up a domestic airline called Air Kazakhstan. Air Kazakhstan was the name of the Kazakh national airline in the 1990s. It was phased out with the creation of Air Astana in 2001. Kazakhstan has been investing heavily in transport infrastructure.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
JAN. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian train and plane manufacturer Bombardier plans to open an office in Astana, local media reported. By moving into Kazakhstan Bombardier highlights potential as a client. Bombardier makes passenger planes and Kazakhstan wants to bolster its air transport sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)
JAN. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting improved relations between Georgia and Russia, Airzena Georgian Airways will resume flights to Sochi in time for the start of the Winter Olympic Games next month. Georgian Airways plans to fly twice a week from Tbilisi to the resort town on the Black Sea coast.
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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Navoi, in the centre of Uzbekistan, is becoming increasingly significant to the Uzbek government.
It has designated the area around the Soviet-built town a special economic zone, granting companies tax breaks and other incentives to invest there. It has also developed the airport speedily and aggressively.
Since 2007, Navoi airport has steadily increased in size and scope. On its website, the Navoi airport mission statement is simple and clear: “To become the respected major multi-modal logistics centre at the heart of Eurasia, by connecting international air, rail and overland routes into a single Hub based on Navoi International Airport.”
Uzbekistan has already spent millions on improving facilities at the Navoi airport — it hosts cooling and storage facilities and is able to process 300 tonnes of cargo every day — and now local media have reported that it plans another $35 million investment to improve fuelling facilities.
This is important for Uzbekistan and Central Asia because it puts it in direct competition with Manas airport near Bishkek and Almaty.
There is still a long way to go, of course. Manas is still the US military’s main transport base, although it will withdraw by the middle of next year, and Almaty, in Kazakhstan, is the region’s main commercial centre.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan Airways will charge foreign airlines for airport services at Tashkent in euros from Dec. 1, local media quoted Russian news agency RIA Novosti as saying. Analysts said the move undermines confidence in Uzbekistan’s national currency which is heavily controlled by the authorities.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan said it will spend $35m upgrading fuelling facilities at the Navoi airport in the centre of the country. This is important because Uzbekistan wants to turn the airport into the main cargo hub for Central Asia and the general Asia-Europe route.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
OCT. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Profit at the company which runs Almaty International Airport for the first nine months of the year hit $33m, up 65% from the same period last year, media reported. A group of investors linked to Kazakhstan’s business elite owns Almaty International Airport.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Six months after the bankruptcy of Armenia’s national airline Armavia, Air Armenia began to service its first scheduled route between Yerevan and Moscow. Air Armenia, set up in 2003 as a private air transport company, is looking to fill the void that Armavia’s bankruptcy left.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan plans to update all its 11 national airports to meet international standards by 2017, media quoted the deputy minister for communications and transport, Azat Bekturov, as saying. Mr Bekturov said the airport at Kokshetau, northern Kazakhstan, had already been upgraded.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will allow five more airports, mainly in the eastern Ferghana Valley, to accept international flights, media reported. The flights are likely to serve Russia where labourers head for jobs, underlining the importance of Uzbekistan’s migrant workforce to its economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
