OCT. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan plans to update all its 11 national airports to meet international standards by 2017, media quoted the deputy minister for communications and transport, Azat Bekturov, as saying. Mr Bekturov said the airport at Kokshetau, northern Kazakhstan, had already been upgraded.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan will allow five more airports, mainly in the eastern Ferghana Valley, to accept international flights, media reported. The flights are likely to serve Russia where labourers head for jobs, underlining the importance of Uzbekistan’s migrant workforce to its economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
AUG. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan Airways, the state-owned airline, has placed an order for two new Dreamliner Boeings, media reported. Neither the Uzbek government nor Boeing have confirmed these reports. In August, senior Boeing executives reportedly travelled to Tashkent for meetings with Uzbek government officials.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
JULY 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Eurocopter Kazakhstan Engineering, a joint venture set up in 2011 between Kazakhstan and Europe’s EADS, plans to start making attack helicopters by the end of 2013, officials said in Astana. According to press reports Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are interested in buying the helicopters.
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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
JULY 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan Airlines plans to start a flight to Beijing from Baku in September, media reported. This will be the first direct flight connecting the Azerbaijani and Chinese capitals and could potentially bring more Chinese business to Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JULY 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Netherlands-registered Venus Airport Investments BV will pay out $3b tenge ($19.7m) in dividends to its shareholders on profits from its sole ownership of Almaty International Airport, media reported. Venus Airport Investments bought Almaty airport in 2011. It is linked to members of the Kazakh elite.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JUNE 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Soviet-era AN-2 plane crashed in southern Kazakhstan as it was irrigating a paddy field, media reported. One of the pilots of the AN-2, a single engine biplane, died in the crash and another was badly injured. Kazakhstan has modernised its fleet of planes although many still date back to the Soviet Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) agreed to give Uzbekistan a $270m grant to buy two new Boeing airplanes for its national airline and to modernise its hydro-electric stations. The IDB, a multinational institution, has been one of Uzbekistan’s biggest donors in recent years.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
APRIL 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish Airlines cancelled its first flight to Armenia, a transport link that had been designed to ease tension between the two neighbours. Turkish Airlines had been due to fly twice weekly from Van in eastern Turkey to Yerevan. Azerbaijan, still officially at war with Armenia, persuaded Turkey, its long-term ally, to scrap the flights.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
MARCH 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s national airline, Armavia, declared itself bankrupt after failing to find a buyer. AP quoted Armavia’s owner, Mikhail Bagdasarov, as saying that the economic downturn and problems with the Russia-made Sukhoi passenger jet had lead to the debt. Armavia operates 14 aircraft to 20 destinations.
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(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)