KAZAKHSTAN - FAA DISCUSSES CIVIL AVIATION ISSUES WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001669

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR PGOV PREL KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN - FAA DISCUSSES CIVIL AVIATION ISSUES WITH
GOVERNMENT, AIRPORT, AND AIRLINE REPRESENTATIVES

Summary
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1. (SBU) Brian Staurseth, Moscow-based Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) Senior Representative for the CIS, visited
Astana from August 25-28, 2008 for meetings with Mukhit Kubayev,
Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee; Marat Dautaliyev, Deputy
Director General of KazAeroNavigatsiya; Johari Bin Karim, Deputy
President of Astana International Airport; and Gerhard Coetzee, Vice
President for Corporate Safety of Air Astana. The purpose of the
visit was to inform civil aviation officials about the FAA's
standards and procedures for carriers to service the United States,
to discuss the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA)
program, and to learn about the state of civil aviation safety in
Kazakhstan. Although Kazakhstani officials reassured Staurseth that
they would implement European flight safety standards by the end of
the year, Air Astana representative Coetzee was skeptical. He
maintained that Kazakhstani civil aviation authorities have not been
given sufficient support, staff, or resources to carry out their
mission and noted that the government has declined offers of
assistance to carry out a flight obstacle survey. End Summary.

Ambitious Airport Upgrade Program
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2. (SBU) Mukhit Kubayev, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee,
told visiting FAA representative Brian Staurseth that nine of
Kazakhstan's 14 international airports meet the standards of the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Kubayev claimed
that the Civil Aviation Committee, with a staff of 35 people,
including no more than 10 safety inspectors, operates according to
European Joint Aviation Regulations-European Aviation Safety Agency
(JAR-EASA) standards. The Civil Aviation Committee has issued
airworthiness certificates to more than 800 Kazakhstan registered
aircraft and issued air operator certificates (AOCs) to more than 50
carriers operating in Kazakhstan. (Note: The purpose of the FAA
visit was not to audit the civil aviation authority; an ICAO audit
is scheduled for May 2009. End Note.)


3. (SBU) Kubayev also noted that the Kazakhstan government has
carried out an ambitious program to upgrade airport facilities
around the country, including a new terminal in Astana, a runway in
Aktau, and renovations at airports in Kyzylorda and Aktobe. The
government has been successful in leveraging international financial
support to carry out these modernization projects. For example, the
Japanese Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided a 40-year
loan of $250 million to finance renovations at Astana Airport in

2005. There is no civil aviation transport agreement between the
USG and Kazakhstani government and currently no U.S. air carriers
provide passenger service to Kazakhstan, although FedEx has an
agreement to provide cargo service. Kubayev said the Kazakhstanis
would be willing to offer incentives to a U.S. carrier to offer
non-stop service from Astana or Almaty to New York. (Comment: Based
on our observations of passenger traffic to the U.S., we have doubts
that such a route would be profitable. End Comment.) Kubayev also
noted that the Ministry of Transport has decided to fully phase out
ageing Soviet-built aircraft by 2011 in favor of new Western-built
ones.

Air Astana Says Civil Aviation Committee Under-Resourced
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4. (SBU) Air Astana Vice-President for Corporate Safety Gerhard
Coetzee told Staurseth that Air Astana would be interested in a code
share agreement with a U.S. carrier -- which would trigger an FAA
International Aviation Safety Assessment of Kazakhstan's Civilian
Aviation Committee. Air Astana is not, however, actively pursuing a
direct route of its own to New York or any other U.S. city. Air
Astana -- owned 51 percent by the Kazakhstani government and 49
percent by BAe Systems -- operates 21 aircraft (five Boeing 757s,
two 767s, 10 Airbuses, and five Fokker 50s) and accounts for more
than 75 percent of all Kazakhstani air traffic. (Note: Other major
Kazakhstani airlines include Scat Air, headquartered in Shymkent,
with 30 Antonov and Yakovlev aircraft; Saychat, which has routes to
Israel; and Tulpar, which has 15 Antonov and Yakovlev aircraft that
it operates throughout the Central Asia region. End Note.)
According to Coetzee, Air Astana operates in full compliance with
ICAO and industry IOSA standards and often provides informal
technical assistance to the Civil Aviation Committee on aviation
safety and other matters. The airline maintains a roughly 50-50
ratio of international to local staff. Kazakhstanis occupy
leadership positions in the finance, legal, human resources,
procurement, and public relations departments.


5. (SBU) Coetzee was extremely skeptical that Kazakhstani civil
aviation authorities would be able to meet Prime Minister Masimov's
order to fully implement JAR-EASA standards by the end of the year;
he estimated it will actually take at least five years. Simply to
translate the standards by the end of the year would be an
impressive feat. Coetzee was quite emphatic in arguing that

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Kazakhstani civil aviation authorities have not been given
sufficient support, staff, or resources to carry out their mission.
There are, for example, no departments for air worthiness,
licensing, or aeronautical navigation at the Civil Aviation
Committee. According to Coetzee, the Committee has no one on staff
qualified to oversee check airmen and provide safety guarantees on
inspected aircraft. "Someone has got to get the message to those
above that the civil aviation authority is severely under
resourced," he said.


6. (SBU) Coetzee lamented the government's decision in May 2008 to
decline the (gratis) offer of U.S. specialists to conduct a
systematic survey using World Geodetic Standard (WGS) 84 of five
airports in Kazakhstan. This survey is standard practice in most
countries and would help to significantly increase air safety in
cases where airports have no reliable data on obstacles to aircraft.
A survey team was sent home after the Ministry of Defense raised
objections based on national security concerns, Coetzee maintained.
He said that Azat Bekturov, Vice Minister of Transportation and an
Air Astana Board member, has established a committee to investigate
the matter and will raise it with the Ministry of Defense in the
near future. Coetzee did not think that there was a major safety or
commercial concern related to Kazakhstan's non-adoption of ICAO RVSM
standards of 300 meters (recently adopted by China and long existing
in the EU),although Staurseth suggested that the existence of
different altitude structures might complicate air traffic
transitions from Europe to China through Kazakhstan.

ORDWAY