Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Depreciation of the aircraft fleet is more than 80 percent in Kazakhstan, a parliament member said Monday.

"To date, 497 civilian aircraft have been registered by the public register of the country. According to experts, depreciation of the fleet is more than 80 percent and their life span exceeds 20 years, while the specified life span of a plane is no more than 30 years," Seytsultan Aimbetov said during a government hour in the Majilis, the lower chamber of the Kazakh parliament, on the topic 'Development of Transport Infrastructure'.

According to Aimbetov, the outdated aircraft fleet does not meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is a great disadvantage of the domestic civil aviation.

"Unfortunately, the pursuit of liberalization has led to the weakening and loss of the control system over this industry," Aimbetov noted.

Furthermore, the MP believes that the issues of aviation staff shortage, lack of fuel and repair facilities, weak airport infrastructure and low level of air services remain unresolved.

According to Aimbetov, the high cost of tickets, inadequate competition, poor service, and regular flight delays remain pressing issues as well.

The MP noted that the implementation of basic types of certification - certification of aviation personnel, technical maintenance and repair of aircraft as well as inspection of the condition of aircraft, in particular foreign ones, has been assigned to the Republican State Enterprise Flight Safety Assessment Center.

"We consider it necessary to take into account the requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization on the introduction of state aviation inspectors to implement the monitoring of security and safety of flights as an important aspect in the field of civil aviation," Aimbetov said.

Kazakh Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Jumagaliyev has said that Kazakh airlines bought 16 aircraft and will purchase 14 more in 2013. According to him, the number of aircraft which will be bought by the Kazakh airlines will reach 56 by 2020.

Jumagaliyev also said that a decree approved on Novermber 1, 2012 prohibits the operation of airplanes which are not compliant with the ICAO standards.