Atyrau is one of the most important cities, in probably the most important country in Central Asia, Kazakhstan. Atyrau is the oil capital of Kazakhstan. The money made here has funded the $15 billion build costs of the new capital, Astana. In 2001, The European Bank for Reconstruction made available a sovereign guaranteed loan of US$ 24.5 million (€26.9 million) to upgrade Atyrau airport, new runway, new infrastructure etc. That included a new/upgraded airport building for the international arrivals and departures. And it’s there, very big, very nice, baggage carousel etc, but it’s not being used for its purpose!
How then, is it possible for an airport to degrade services from appalling to worse?
It used to be that you got off of the plane, got herded onto a bus, and driven to the International Arrivals and, if you were lucky you got into this very small area. If not, you stood outside. In context, arrive in the summer and swelter (+40C) and humidity and mozzies, in the winter you would freeze (-40C) When work started on the new airport building for international arrivals, the area for incoming international passengers moved to the old Internal departure building, basically a shed, and there it has stayed, and you still swelter or freeze, get bitten by mosquitoes or frostbite! Even if you wanted to, or could, there is no point being in a hurry to get through Immigration as it 45 minutes for the baggage truck to make the 200 meter journey from the plane. Immigration can take up to 2 hours! (They always seem to be surprised when a plane lands at Atyrau, as if it was not a normal occurrence!) Eventually the baggage arrives, piled up on the backs of open trolleys towed behind a small tractor. Hope it is not raining, or you bag will be soaked and soon so will you. Once it is parked up, everyone scrambles through, till you have 100 or 150 people all crammed around a small trailer, trying to squeeze a bit closer to reach their stuff, looking rather like a pack of ravenous hyenas around a freshly killed gazelle. Finally people start emerging from the maul, their expressions a mix of triumph, relief and exasperation and then they stagger back into the shed, put it through the X-ray machine and with any kind of get out of there into the hot/cold/freezing. Lost baggage? Don’t even go there! Absolute nightmare! Porters? No. If you’re a mum with kids and lots of baggage, you need to workout some before traveling. There a company called ATMA that runs the CIP/VIP lounge and their website quotes as follows:-
ATYRAU PASSENGER SERVICES
ATMA, with its Russian and English speaking qualified personnel provides international standard ticket sales and check–in its own terminal building. Post Office, Bank, Bureau de Change, Restaurants, Cafeterias, Bars, VIP Lounge, Newsagent/Tobacconist, Chemist Shop, Car Rental, Taxi Service/Rank, First Aid, Baby/Parent Room. In your dreams, it ain’t there, none of it. There are at least two theories why the New International Departure Area is not being used.
1 – It is alleged that if it opened, the VIP service would lose out big time, as there would not be a use for it, loss of big bucks there as it costs around $25.00 per person to use their services, and they do.
2 – Allegedly, if the International Departure Area was opened, then the authorities would have to allow other international carriers to use Atyrau airport. At the moment, Air Astana have a very lucrative monopoly into Atyrau.
British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa want in, but not with the current facilities.
I guess that the European Bank for Reconstruction doesn’t care once a project has been completed. I don’t know if the IATA is interested. The Kazakh government should be interested. But then again ‘Air Astana is a joint venture between the Government of Kazakhstan and BAE Systems, with 51% owned by the government and 49% by BAE’. Certainly the travelers through this airport are treated with contempt by all and sundry because “That’s the way it is”