Sampling Kazakhstan’s Turboprop LCC: Astana to Almaty on a Qazaq Air Dash 8 Q400
Following an exciting morning spent rumbling through the skies of Kazakhstan on an old Antonov An-24, I touched down in Astana’s Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport, named in honour of the first and then-current president of Kazakhstan. With all having gone to plan, I touched down at 1250 and by the time I made it landside I was left with over three hours until my flight back southwards to Almaty on a much more modern Qazaq Air Dash 8 Q400. Seeing as this did not allow for enough time to explore Kazakhstan’s capital city and with little to see in the airport’s immediate surroundings, I had little option but to spend this wait in the airport’s terminal. Furthermore, having been unable to check-in online and as Qazaq Air’s check-in desks would not open up until ninety minutes prior to my flight’s departure, I would be confined to the airport’s landside area for much of my wait. Unfortunately, I found that the terminal’s complimentary wifi only worked for those with a local phone number, so I was left with little to do bar explore the terminal and read a book that I had brought along for the trip. Whilst domestic flights utilise the airport’s slightly older terminal, dating back to 2005, this can hardly be described as old and inside I found this to be fairly clean, modern and well laid out. Perhaps the most unique feature of this terminal is its large shopping mall-like atrium which sits below a large dome, inspired by traditional Kazakh architecture. That Friday afternoon, the terminal seemed to be rather empty with plenty of places to sit and wait. For those fancying something to eat or drink, the landside area of the terminal features multiple café-restaurants selling both local specialities such as and international. Meanwhile for those wanting something lighter or hesitant to practice their Kazakh or Russian, snacks, drinks and sandwiches are offered for multiple vending machines dotted throughout the terminal.
Once I had seen all there was to see in the landside portion of the terminal, I plonked myself down near a large LG television that broadcast a repeating series of advertisements and promotions for the duration of my wait. Eventually, 1455 rolled around and I headed across the atrium to check-in for my flight. Here, small queues could be seen at Qazaq Air’s desks although most appeared to be suited business travellers with minimal amounts of luggage and I thus made it to a desk after no more than five minutes of standing in line. Upon arriving here I was greeted by a friendly check-in agent in Russian and then in English once I had handed over my passport. After some quick typing, my Qazaq Air branded boarding pass was printed off and I walked the very short distance to the security checkpoint.
As with much of the terminal, security was rather quiet and I made it airside within approximately two minutes following a hassle-free check. Like the landside area, airside the terminal appeared to have been well-cleaned and I was pleased to find a decent selection of cafes and shops. Looking outside, in most places the design of the terminal largely prevents passengers from getting any decent views of the action outside, however unobscured views of the remote stands could be had at the very end of this. Outside, plenty of Air Astana aircraft could be spotted with examples of all aircraft types present in their fleet at the time making an appearance during my stay. Meanwhile, aircraft from Kazakhstan’s second airline, SCAT Airlines were also unsurprisingly present in the form of a CRJ-200 and a Boeing 737-300. Interestingly the former lacked titles and carried red engines from its previous life with Mexican LCC VivaAerobus. Other aircraft on the ground during my stay included a couple of Southern Sky Antonov An-24s and multiple rare Yak 40s. Turning my attention inside, that afternoon the terminal remained relatively quiet although the number of passengers did increase a little during my stay before the later rush of flights to Almaty. Unsurprisingly most passengers appeared to be Kazakh, however, I did also notice a fair number of both Russian and Korean passengers too.
As with my ride from Almaty to Balkhash earlier that day, boarding was scheduled to commence thirty minutes before departure at 1550. However, upon witnessing the arrival of the inbound Dash 8 at 1540, I was a little doubtful that boarding would commence on time – although the FIDS continued to show an on-time departure for the flight. Much to my surprise, boarding was announced at 1555 by which time a queue of eager passengers had already formed which I soon joined. As with the check-in queue, this moved along quickly and I soon had my boarding pass scanned and checked before heading down the escalator and outside onto the awaiting bus. Ten minutes after boarding had been announced, with the majority of the flight’s passengers onboard, the bus’ doors slid closed and this pulled away from the terminal. After skirting around the apron, passing an East Wing Yak-40 and an Air Astana Embraer 190, the bus arrived at the remote stand where a shiny turboprop could be seen being prepared for the 591-mile flight down to Almaty.
The aircraft operating the Qazaq Air flight that afternoon would be an Aruban-registered Dash 8 Q402 carrying the appropriate registration, P4-QAZ, leased from the UAE’s Falcon Aviation Services. Manufactured in 2015, this aircraft made its first flight from Toronto Downsview in July that year in an all-white livery with the test registration C-FJFV before receiving its Aruban registration. In mid-August that year the aircraft was flown across the Atlantic to Shannon, making stops at Goose Bay and Keflavik. Once in Ireland, the aircraft was painted into Qazaq Air’s livery before being flown to Kazakhstan via Riga in preparation for the airline’s commencement of services at the end of August 2015.
After a short wait in the hot summer sun, during which I admired one of the aircraft’s two large propellers, I climbed up the aircraft’s built-in steps and arrived in the small forward galley and was hit by a wall of refreshingly cool air. Here, I was greeted in Russian by one of the flight’s two cabin crew members before turning right and heading into the cabin. As with the vast majority of Dash 8 Q400s, those of Qazaq Air feature 76 typically ‘Dash 8’ dark blue faux leather seats, each of which sported a purple antimacassar with the airline’s logo. Onboard, I found that the first two rows of the aircraft were curtained off – with these seats presumably offering additional legroom. After some shuffling down the cabin, I arrived at Seat 17D and was pleased to find this featured two well-positioned windows. Whilst the aircraft had been in service for just under two years at the time of my flight, I could not help but notice several significant marks and scratches around my seat although fortunately, the cabin appeared to be reasonably clean in spite of the short turnaround. Turning to the seatback pocket, seeing as Qazaq Air lacked an inflight magazine at the time of my flight, the contents of this were limited to a safety card and a sick bag. Meanwhile, I found the seat to be comfortable enough for a relatively short flight, offering a rather standard amount of legroom with a regional aircraft.
Once all passengers from the first bus had made it onto the aircraft, I was pleased to find that the neighbouring seat remained empty. Unfortunately, this was not the case for long as this seat was soon taken by one of the last passengers to board who arrived on the second bus. That afternoon, the flight appeared to be around 100% full, with at least two-thirds of passengers appearing to be business people who presumably reside in Almaty. By 1617 it appeared as if boarding had been completed, although with airport workers continuously shuttling in and out of the aircraft, there was no sign that the cabin door was to be closed any time soon. Outside, a fire engine and fuel truck appeared whilst one of the pilots announced ‘cabin crew fuel position’ which was followed by an announcement in Kazakh, Russian and English advising passengers to keep our seatbelts unfastened whilst this was underway. As fuel was loaded, the captain exited the aircraft to undertake their walk around before rejoining several minutes later following the completion of refuelling. Meanwhile, a reasonably loud thud could be both heard and felt as the cargo door was closed at the rear of the aircraft. However, at the front of the aircraft there appeared to be little sign that the aircraft would soon depart, with the dispatcher talking on their phone whilst looking a little concerned.
Fortunately, had there been any sort of problem, this was soon rectified and at 1630, ten minutes after the flight’s departure time, the main cabin door was closed. After closing this, the purser then welcomed passengers onboard with an announcement in Kazakh, Russian and English which was followed by a manual safety demonstration performed by a single crew member at the front of the cabin. As this neared its end, in a much quieter fashion than those of the Antonov earlier that day, the Dash 8’s two PW150A engines whirled into life and at 1637 the aircraft taxied out of the stand under its own steam. From the aircraft’s stand, the taxi to runway 04 was rather quick, although due to maintenance work on one of the taxiways, this involved heading to the end of Runway 22 before backtracking and coming to a temporary halt.
After a short pause, the engines spooled up and the aircraft quickly accelerated down the runway, soon rotating and climbing into the blue skies like a rocketship before power was reduced and the rate of climb decreased slightly. Once in the air, the aircraft soon turned southwards over the step before haze came and blocked much of the view below. Inside the cabin, the seatbelt signs were turned off twelve minutes after departure which was followed by the usual announcement advising all onboard to keep these fastened whilst seated as well as conveying another word of thanks for flying with Qazaq Air. A short time later things temporarily got a little bumpy as the aircraft sliced through the clouds, however, things soon calmed down and at 1700 the two cabin crew members rolled the drinks trolley to the front of the cabin. Given my location at the rear of the cabin, this took some time to reach me and once the crew arrived at row 17, I opted for a Coca Cola which was handed to me in a Qazaq Air branded paper cup in a rather cold and slightly unwelcoming manner.
Outside, at 1706 the clouds opened up revealing the towns of Shakhtinsk and Topar. Inside the cabin, having perhaps had a busy day at work, many passengers had fallen asleep whilst others read books or entertained themselves on their own devices. As the aircraft cruised southwards, clouds continuously came and went allowing for views of the remote landscape below before the city of Balkhash and the turquoise waters of its neighbouring lake came into view around halfway into the flight. Rocketing along at cruising speed in the fast Dash 8, the flight crossed the lake in around a third of the time it had taken the Antonov that morning. Once the aircraft reached the other side of the lake, little could be seen as the aircraft made its way southwards until the flight neared Almaty.
At 1755, an incredibly loud chime rang out through the cabin which caused my lightly sleeping neighbour to wake up in shock. At this time one of the flight attendants passed through the cabin collecting passengers’ rubbish and after fifteen minutes the seatbelt signs were reilluminated just after the aircraft commenced its descent. Below at this stage in the flight, the rough landscapes of southeastern Kazakhstan could be seen before this flattened out and the first signs of civilisation could be seen in the form of roads and buildings. As the aircraft neared Almaty, the crew passed through the cabin ensuring all was in place for the aircraft’s arrival as the aircraft sank down over tens of carefully divided rectangular fields after which Lake Sorbulaq and the new Sokol motor racing track came into view. After this, the dusty scenery then changed green as grass and trees began to appear as well as several large towns.
Eventually, the aircraft turned north which brought the mountains that border the city into view as well as Almaty itself as the landing gear and flaps were extended. As Dash 8 neared the airport, Almaty’s relatively green suburbs rushed past before the aircraft floated down over the perimeter fence and made a soft touchdown on runway 5L. This arrival was followed by some heavy braking before the aircraft made a U-turn and backtracked down the runway, before vacating this, allowing for views of the host of locally based active and stored Soviet-built aircraft.
At this point one of the flight attendants performed their brief post-arrival announcement, welcoming all to Almaty and advising passengers to remain seated before the aircraft came to a halt in the middle of a taxiway. Assuming the aircraft had come to a temporary stop, I was a little surprised to see the engines shut down. Within a couple of minutes, a tug was connected to the aircraft which then pushed the Dash 8 back into a stand next to a fellow Qazaq Air Dash 8 Q400.
Once the aircraft came to a halt, plenty of passengers jumped up and fortunately for them, disembarkation commenced fairly quickly. After waiting for five minutes or so, I stood up and made my way to the front of the cabin where I thanked one of the flight attendants before heading down the aircraft’s steps and onto the waiting bus. Seeing as I was one of the last passengers to disembark, a minute after I boarded the packed bus that would shuttle us all to the terminal, the doors closed and this headed off on its short journey. Once at the terminal, with no luggage I found myself swamped by unofficial drivers in the landside area within a minute or so, however, seeing as I was staying in the airport hotel their services would not be necessary.
Summary
Having delivered to me on time and in one piece, Qazaq Air succeeded in its basic role. However, aside from this, I would not say there was anything particularly special or memorable about this flight. Yet, at the same time, I was not left with anything to make any sort of major complaint about. If I happened to be flying domestically in Kazakhstan again, I might consider flying with Qazaq Air, however, I would likely not go out of my way to specifically fly with the airline.
