Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Kazakhstan will bring all airports into line with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) by 2020.

The news was announced by Dauren Sabitov, Director of the Department of Transit and Transport Logistics of Kazakhstan's Investment and Development Ministry at a roundtable meeting on the development of the transport sector, Trend Agency reported.

"We plan to bring all 18 airports of Kazakhstan into line with the ICAO standards by 2020," Sabitov noted.

He also noted Kazakhstan pays special attention to the development of the infrastructure of civil aviation airports, and the implementation of requirements on strengthening the security of civil flights is among the main tasks.

Sabitov also said currently, the work on increasing the capacity of the Aktau sea port is underway and three dry cargo terminals, including one grain terminal and two universal terminals are under construction.

"Thereby, it is planned to increase the port's capacity by 2.5 million metric tons," Sabitov said.

Currently, only 12 Kazakh airports meet the requirements of the ICAO.

Kazakhstan has airports in its Shimkent, Atbasar, Karaganda, Kyzyl-Orda, Balkhash, Burundai, Zaisan, Petropavlovsk, Semipalatinsk, Ust-kamenogorsk, Uralsk, Taldy-Kurgan, Kokshetau, Pavlodar, Zhezkazgan, Atyrau, Zhambyl, Zhairem, Ekibastuz, Almaty, Aktau, Kostanay, Aktyubinsk, Arkalyk, and Astana cities.

Kazakhstan's existing airlines are Air Astana, Air Company MEGA, Avia Jaynar, Bek Air, Berkut Air, Euro-Asia Air, Excellent Glide, Irtysh-Air, SCAT, Semeyavia, Zhetysu, and Zhezkazgan Air.