OREANDA-NEWS. March 21, 2013.  Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov has held a telephone conference on the issues of development of airports and flight safety improvement.

Kazakh Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Zhumagaliyev informed that as a result of joint work with ICAO specialists it is planned to make 40 amendments to the existing legislation, most of which will refer to the certification procedures and permanent supervision over flight safety. He also said that the national program of flight safety would be developed on the basis of international experience.

In addition, the Minister informed that together with ICAO experts it is planned to conduct recertification of all Kazakhstani airlines and commercial aircrafts.

Speaking about the problems of the industry, Zhumagaliyev highlighted the poor quality of services, wearing of runways, limited airport capacity, low frequency of flights, shortage and high cost of domestic aviation fuel.

"According to the President’s instruction, we are establishing a single operator - managing company, which will consolidate all public airports and will work on improving the quality of services, including through the implementation of international standards," Zhumagaliyev said.

He also noted that in recent years much has been done on the reconstruction and modernization of runways. "By the end of this year we plan to complete the reconstruction of the runway in Taldykorgan," the Minister said.

As a result of the adoption of measures for the development of airports, by 2016 it is expected that all 18 airports will comply with ICAO categories, Astana and Almaty airports capacity will increase twofold by 2017, annual growth in passenger traffic will be not less than 10%, the Minister concluded.

Following the meeting Serik Akhmetov gave instructions to develop civil aviation to the Ministry of Transport and Communications and other interested bodies.