Nazarbayev Opens New Astana International Airport

UNCLAS ALMATY 000427

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE, MO'MARA)


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EAIR PGOV PREL KZ ECONOMIC
SUBJECT: Nazarbayev Opens New Astana International Airport



1. (SBU) Summary: President Nazarbayev presided with great
fanfare at the February 2 opening ceremony of the new Astana
international airport. The new facility, with a reported
operational date of February 9, offers significantly more
space than the current terminal. The balloons and band,
however, could not entirely mask the simmering tensions over
the government's plans to designate Astana as Kazakhstan's
sole international hub in October 2005 or the concerns
expressed about the terminal's structural stability. End
Summary.


2. (U) On February 2, President Nazarbayev christened
Astana's new airport, calling on international carriers to
make Astana "a transit point between Europe and the Far
East, southeastern Asia and the Middle East." According to
airport staff, the terminal will become operational on
February 9.


3. (U) Construction of the $216 million multi-story airport
began in September 2002 and represents a significant
expansion over the space and capacity of the current
airport. Built by a Japanese-led consortium, the airport
facade is largely glass and steel with an atrium decorated
in traditional Kazakh motifs.


4. (U) The airport is designed to handle up to 750
passengers at peak hours and 600 tons of air cargo per day.
Runway service includes An-124s and Boeing 747s. The
Ministry of Transportation and Communications projects that
the new terminal will service approximately 15,000 flights
in 2005 - nearly 2,000 more than in 2004.


5. (SBU) The airport's new design has come in for some
criticism. On January 28, the local paper "Karavan"
reported that doubts had emerged about the terminal's
stability after a load-bearing column buckled in December

2003. Siemens employees have privately expressed concern
about the impact of Astana's swampy ground on the
glass/steel frame as the terminal begins to settle, and
about the ability of the glass/steel to withstand the area's
extreme weather that can range from minus mid-twenties to
one hundred degrees (Fahrenheit). (Note: Siemens was a
subcontractor on the new airport project. End note.)


6. (SBU) Comment: The government's intention to direct all
international flights via Astana beginning October 2005
remains a sore point with western carriers, particularly
Lufthansa. The German Principal Officer in Astana told us
that Lufthansa will pull out of Kazakhstan if forced to re-
direct flight from Almaty -- already an unprofitable route
that Lufthansa expects would go even further into the red if
switched over to Astana. Kazakhstani officials have
blustered and obfuscated when confronted in recent
economic/business forums about the likely consequences of
forcing western carriers to operate out of Astana. It is
not clear whether Kazakhstani officials understand that an
international carrier's bottom line may be just as important
as the will of the president in this matter. End Comment.

ORDWAY


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