Air Isolation or How to Unlock the Potential of Air Transport in the Regions of Kazakhstan?
Recently, it was announced that the “SKYHANSA” Kazakh-German consortium intends to build a new cargo-passenger airport in the “Khorgos – Eastern Gate” special economic zone in Kazakhstan. The project involves the construction of airport infrastructure with a passenger terminal capacity of up to 500 people per hour and a cargo terminal capable of handling up to 250 thousand tons of cargo annually.
The total amount of private investment in the project is estimated to be around 250 billion tenge, with the creation of more than 300 permanent jobs. If this initiative is successfully implemented, the country will gain additional potential for the development of air transport.
However, reasonable questions arise: why isn’t this project being implemented in cooperation with China, considering their investment opportunities and shared border? Is it sensible to build a new airport if there are already two regional airports (in Taldykorgan and Usharal) near the Chinese border? In response to the first question, it can be assumed that China is more aware of internal issues at the border with Kazakhstan (shadow economy, bureaucracy, corruption risks, etc.), making any initiative potentially costly and fraught with additional challenges.
Regarding the second question, the answer relates to the significant imbalance in the development of the aviation sector in Kazakhstan’s regions. As of today, 20 airports in Kazakhstan operate regular flights, of which 15 are classified as small, 2 as medium, and 3 as large. Three major airports (Almaty, Astana, Aktau) provide connectivity with 30 countries worldwide, with 24 countries connected through Almaty alone. Meanwhile, regional airports are unable to even accommodate domestic flights, as only Almaty and Astana have connections with nearly all regional centers.
Regional centers themselves are poorly connected with each other. For instance, large cities such as Pavlodar and Karaganda only have air links with Almaty, and Kyzylorda and Ust-Kamenogorsk are connected only with Almaty and Astana.
Thus, the question arises as to whether it is feasible to maintain such airports, considering that they consume heat, electricity, and other resources.
Given the growing volumes of passenger and cargo traffic between Asia and Europe, Kazakhstan has every chance of becoming a key link in international air transport. It is known that around 7-8 million tons of cargo are transported between Asia and Europe annually, of which Kazakh airports handle only 2%.
Main issues facing regional airports:
- The ground infrastructure of regional airports does not allow them to safely and efficiently service larger, more modern aircraft, as many of the airports’ infrastructure facilities, including runways, taxiways, and aprons, are significantly worn;
- Airports are either not equipped with or are lacking in specialized equipment and machinery. Approximately 72% of specialized equipment in Kazakhstan’s airports is outdated, with some types of equipment (airfield tractors, belt conveyors, water refueling machines, etc.) being entirely absent;
- Access to aviation fuel is difficult.
How to Unlock the Potential of Air Transport in Kazakhstan’s Regions:
- It is necessary to develop convenient transit/cargo hubs between air, rail, and road transport to identify the most promising regional airports;
- More actively use the potential of public-private partnerships to modernize airports, including transferring regional airports into trust management by foreign airlines;
- Localize the production of aviation fuel. In the future, the focus should be on producing hydrogen, which is considered the most likely alternative to aviation gasoline;
- Develop a national cargo airline in Kazakhstan, which could play a key role in servicing the cargo flows transported by air, both between regional and global markets.
By Erlan Karimov
