Air Kazakstan

...Cosmonauts = Bond girls = Air Kazakstan?
Er… no. Not even after a dozen Kazakh vodkas could I jump along this train of thought. Well, it was a tenuous link but I tried…

HISTORY
After independence, the local branch of Aeroflot was reorganised into Kazakhstan Airlines. A few years on, the airline collapsed amid financial chaos and from the ashes emerged Air Kazakstan, using mainly the same aircraft repainted and many of ...
...Irtysh Avia, was merged into Air Kazakstan, and later in the year several independent domestic airlines had their licences revoked, giving Air Kazakstan a near monopoly on most of the routes they fly. However this has been challenged recently by a new western-run airline, Air Astana, operating brand new western aircraft. Air Astana are still small but are starting to take over Air Kazakstan’s main routes and are slated to replace them as flag carrier ... more

Kazakhstan is the largest former Soviet republic after Russia and was the economic powerhouse of the Soviet Union, providing much of the country’s grain, oil, gas and minerals.
Yet outside of Kazakhstan, all that most people know is that Sputniks are launched from there, and it was mentioned in a recent Bond film.

So… Kazakhstan = Cosmonauts = Bond girls = Air Kazakstan?
Er… no. Not even after a dozen Kazakh vodkas could I jump along this train of thought. Well, it was a tenuous link but I tried…

HISTORY
After independence, the local branch of Aeroflot was reorganised into Kazakhstan Airlines. A few years on, the airline collapsed amid financial chaos and from the ashes emerged Air Kazakstan, using mainly the same aircraft repainted and many of the same people.

In 2002 the bankrupt domestic airline, Irtysh Avia, was merged into Air Kazakstan, and later in the year several independent domestic airlines had their licences revoked, giving Air Kazakstan a near monopoly on most of the routes they fly. However this has been challenged recently by a new western-run airline, Air Astana, operating brand new western aircraft. Air Astana are still small but are starting to take over Air Kazakstan’s main routes and are slated to replace them as flag carrier once they have expanded. However for now Air Kazakstan survive, are determinedly talking of new routes and are still the main carrier on most of the routes.

I’ve flown on Air Kazakstan about ten times during 2002 and 2003, on routes from Almaty, on domestic routes, regional routes within the CIS and once to Europe.

ROUTES
Formerly, as the flag carrier operated all of the main routes to, from and within Kazakhstan. Some of the routes from the commercial centre, Almaty, have now gone but they still operate from Almaty to Frankfurt, Hanover and Bangkok. From Shymkent they fly to Moscow and Dubai. From the western oil town of Atyrau they fly to Istanbul, Budapest, Moscow and Baku.
Within Kazakhstan, they operate between almost all of the main cities.

AIRCRAFT
From their predecessors, Air Kazakstan inherited a full range of Soviet aircraft, from the large 300 seater Ilyushin 86 down to the regional Yak-40 seating 40 people. To modernise their fleet, they acquired some old Boeing 737 aircraft and a couple of ageing Airbus A310s. Many of the aircraft are now withdrawn from service and some of the western aircraft are reportedly being sold. Of the dozens of aircraft on the books, only a handful are in regular service.

International flights are mostly operated by western aircraft - the A310s fly to Germany and the Boeing 737s from Shymkent to Moscow and Dubai. The flights to Atyrau and on to Istanbul and Budapest are operated by a mixture of the elderly 737s and mostly new Yak42s.

Most of the busy domestic are flown by the Yakovlev Yak-42 aircraft, which are ironically the newest and probably most modern aircraft in the fleet, being just a few years old. Smaller domestic and regional routes are operated by the rugged Antonov 24 turboprop and the small Yak-40 jet.
The Ilyushin 86 “jumbos” and Tupolev Tu154s are used mainly for charters.

SEAT AND SURROUNDINGS
So how comfy, or not, are they? As I said, the Yak42s are very new, several of them literally a few years old. Most of the flights I’ve taken have been in economy class, though I have been blessed with Business class occasionally.

The 737s are old, they have the seats that the previous operators used. I’ve flown from Moscow to Almaty, a five hour flight, a couple of rows from the back. It was cramped, the storage space was limited, but I managed a little sleep.

The Yak42 is similar in layout to a 737 but feels slightly smaller. The seats are the standard ex-Soviet ones. One warning, don't take the exit row; 7 is not a lucky number here. The bulky container holding the emergency escape slide juts out and takes up half of the leg room. You end up sitting sideways in your seat, legs pressed up against your neighbour. You'll see there are two rows on their own in front, 5 and 6, which seem seperate from the others. Don't bother asking for these - they are reserved for crew!

The cabin is a little darker than on a 737 but that is not such a bad thing. The overhead air vents generally work, once you are airborne.

Business Class on the Yak42 is quite comfortable. The seat is large, wide, fairly soft, and being just two on each side of the aisle there is more storage space overhead. The legroom is not particularly generous but adequate for a three or four hour flight.

The one time I flew on the Airbus A310 it was also in business class, and that too was comfortable. The legroom was quite good, even when the guy in front reclined his seat.

FOOD & DRINK
In economy class the meal is served on a plastic tray, in wafer thin plastic boxes. The meal consists of a tiny box of salad - slice of tomato and cucumber; a piece of cold chicken with some accompanying monstrosity, and a cup cake. On international flights they might heat up one of the contents.

In business class it is much better. There is typically a salad, some cold cuts, a choice of two or three hot dishes, usually chicken, beef or fish, and ending with the standard pastry. Bread is offered two or three times. Nobody would accuse if of being gourmet but it is good enough.

SERVICE
All the times that I have flown with them, I have seen one, maybe two, of the staff who was friendly, cheerful or warm. The check in supervisor at Almaty is fierce, smiling only with her colleagues. At Atyrau, even if you use the "VIP" check in area, you get the seat they want to give you.

On board, if you are in business class you can expect polite, efficient service. They will offer water or juice before take off, then a drink from the bar before the meal service. Smiles are usually saved for eachother, or when you leave at the end! The one exception I remember was a stewardess on the Airbus A310 from Almaty to Germany; she was pleasant, chatting, friendly, both to my wife and myself. Maybe she was new. Actually no, not in Business on one of the plum routes. I don't know. Thoughts welcome! I won't say her name, though, in case she gets fired for standing out from the crowd!

In economy they mostly appear bored. they go through the motions, efficient, doing little over and above the minimum. One time we were carrying a hat box and wanted somewhere to store it; she found a place in a cupboard but was not happy. Then a minute later a passenger appeared with a bicycle wheel and asked her where he could put it. I thought she was going to explode!

Once I got on board and found someone in my window seat; they refused to move. The stewardess shrugged and pointed me to another seat where I then had to argue with the guy who should have been there when he appeared. On the return flight 24 hours later exactly the same happened, but this time she tried to send me to a middle seat squeezed between two large gentlemen. I just refused, and told her to get the man out of my seat. He refused, saying he wanted the window as he was ill. In the end they put me in business class - hurrah - but made a point of giving me an economy meal and, when I asked for a secondf vodka, refused as I was an economy class passenger. Oh well, the seat was comfy!

SAFETY
Their safety record is reasonable as far as I know. I have heard stories about the aircraft but there is no point spreading rumour and gossip.

I have seen stewardess ignore cabin baggage piled up in front of the emergency exit, and whether they check that seatbelts are fastened for take off and landing depends on the individual. After landing, people are leaping out of their seats to pull luggage out of lockers before the plane has even turned off the runway - this happens in so many places and I cannot believe people actually think this stupidity will get them off the plane any quicker. But then, it happens everywhere.

On one of the most recent flights. which was particularly full, I went to the toilet during the flight. There was one empty seat in the cabin, but three people standing talking and drinking by the toilet. When the person inside came out and returned to the empty seat, I the three guys standing gestured me to go ahead and use the toilet, they weren't waiting - then it dawned on me. These three were standing for the whole flight! They had more passengers than seats and, instead of "bumping" the extra, they took them on standing! After we had landed I started talking to an American guy on board who confirmed that he saw three standing throughout the flight and another three at the front of the plane!

OVERALL
Air Astana is reported to be taking over some more of Air Kazakstan's international routes later in 2003, so it remains to be seen how much longer they will survive in their current form, but it looks like they will be around for some time, even if just on domestic routes.

They operate some useful routes, using some perfectly acceptable new Yak-42 aircraft; the catering is below average, as is the service, and everyone I know who has flown with them has been critical. However, people keep using them, they've always got me there, only once was there a delay in excess of an hour. And my bag has always arrived.

Their website: http://en.airkaz.com/main.html 

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