ATYRAU AIRPORT, Kazakhstan

Atyrau is one of the most important cities, in probably the most important country in Central Asia.

In the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan was the powerhouse of the country; it produced much of the grain, the oil, the coal, the gas. It is the second largest of the former Soviet republics. Of the oil and gas, the great majority comes from the west of the country, and the city which serves the two major oil fields, the fifth and sixth largest in the world, is Atyrau.

In the eleven years since independence there has been a lot of construction, building and development in the city of Atyrau. Two new hotels have been built, just about doubling the number in the city. Office blocks, residential blocks too, have all been built. Unfortunately, and incredibly, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars being earned, it seems that none of it has found its way into developing the airport!

Atyrau airport is barely changed since Kazakhstan’s independence eleven years ago. Western aircraft cannot land in Atyrau because the runway is too weak. Only Soviet built aircraft can land there, as they were designed to operate to substandard airports. The terminal is tiny, built to serve small numbers of domestic passengers, Now they have added in some passport booths but there have been barely any "improvements" other than that.

The terminal is one small building. There is a central public area, with a small door to departures, and another to a couple of arrivals rooms at one end. That’s it! At the other side there are no air bridges, no jetways. A door at the back of the building leads onto the tarmac.


ARRIVALS
You are most likely to be arriving into Atyrau on a domestic flight. When the plane has parked a tatty old bus, which looks like it should be in a vintage car museum, rattles up and all the people file off the plane, onto the bus. The doors stagger shut and the bus lurches its way to the terminal building. Passengers disembark from the bus and are herded the terminal building into a room the size of the average living room, about 30 feet by 15. The walls are bare concrete, the floor is bare tiles, mostly chipped. There is literally nothing in the room apart from the people waiting to meet the new arrivals. Not a single chair, table or counter.

Here you wait for the luggage. Those without luggage can go on through and out, but everyone who checked in a bag has to wait in here. Some people try to go back outside to smoke, but the door is guarded. Some people in the know linger outside to have a quick puff but the security officers insist that you go inside. I never figured out why, probably just because that is the way it always was.

Eventually the baggage arrives, piled up on the back of an open trolley 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, the security guard opens the door and everyone scrambles through, till you have 40 or 50 people all crammed around a small trailer, trying to squeeze a bit closer to reach their Delsey, 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. I believe there is a Darwinian system to the order that they get through, starting with the strongest or the most long-armed, ending with the small or meek, they stagger back into the terminal, out the other side into the main body of the terminal.

Looking around inside the main part of the terminal, the public area, you could just as easily be in a bus or railway station. It comprises a large, two storey public area which serves no useful purpose other than allowing people to stand around doing nothing. In front there is a ticket office, an information office (with the day’s flight departure and arrivals chalked up on a board), a couple of other nondescript counters, and a door through to departures. To the right and left there are stairs going up to the second level, over the departures area, where there is a lot of empty space, a couple of offices and a cafe.

If you are arriving on one of the international flights (there are about two a day) then you will enter the building through a different door which leads you into another small room, about the same size as the domestic arrivals area but it seems smaller as it is divided into two by the passport control booths. There are two booths, midway down the room. The flight that I arrived on only had about twenty passengers, I shudder to think what it would be like if you were at the back of a 100 seat plane, you would be queuing outside! You can pass the time in the queue by filling in the customs forms, if there were any available there.

Through passport control and here you find the real benefit of arriving on an international flight. Someone brings the bags inside for you! The rear end of the room opens out slightly and there is a small baggage belt where the bags are piled for you so you don’t have to go back outside. Once you have picked your bag up you are required to place it into the nearby X-ray machine, then give your completed customs declaration to the officer opposite. I have heard many terrible tales about the customs men in Atyrau, demanding payments, giving people a hard time. The one time I flew internationally into Atyrau, I saw no evidence of that, everyone was through quickly without any trouble. So either I was lucky, or it has improved!

Once you are through, you can leave the terminal and go down the few steps to the car park. Unofficial taxis are readily available for the ten minute drive into town - $10 is a typical fare. As you leave look back to the right, to the control tower. Under it there is a sign with the Russian equivalent of "Bon Voyage" and under that the translation into English, "Happy Way" !!!


DEPARTING
Very few people leave Atyrau by ship, and it is 12 hours by road or train to the commercial centre of Kazakhstan, so the likelihood is that if you flew in, you will fly out again. So you will experience departures.

One of the small, nondescript doors in the main hall of the terminal is labelled, "Departures". There is a security check at the door, so that only ticket holders can go through. On the other side of the door is a wide corridor stretching down to the far end. Part way down, on the right hand side, are a couple of wooden desks where they do check in. Opposite, on the left wall of the corridor, is a pile of bags. This is where you leave your checked luggage. When I checked in there once they weight my cabin bag and told me to check it in. I refused. The insisted, and I insisted no as I had my laptop in it. Luckily she relented, but I nearly had to balance my laptop on top of a waist high pile of baggage!

There are a couple of desks used for passport control when international flights are going, and then the room widens into a square area, with a few seats around the edge. I am convinced that these are the only seats in the whole airport. They are woefully inadequate; well, for a flight with more than twenty passengers, they are woefully inadequate.

There are no shops, no kiosks even, so no refreshments. In most regional airports in the former Soviet Union they at least have an enterprising old woman or man who piles a few bottles of coke and mineral water onto a small table and calls himself a cafe, but not here. If there is a long delay, you just have to wait. Luckily, I have always managed to fly on days when the plane is no more than twenty minutes late. But I try to make sure I have something with me, in case.

About half an hour before the flight leaves, they open up the door to the tarmac and you can go. You climb back into that rickety old bus which then jolts you out to the plane. Once, when I flew, it was raining and so they had the good sense to let people out of the bus in groups of ten or fifteen, so we didn’t get too wet.


THE LUXURY OPTION
All airports in the area have a VIP or CIP section where, for a fee, you can avoid the queues (in theory) and have a more luxurious stay in the airport. Some are good value; others a complete waste of money.

Atyrau’s CIP area is around on the right hand side of the building. It is about the only part of the terminal that has seen renovation and modernisation beyond installing a passport kiosk or two.

First you hand over your ticket to the charming, unsmiling girl behind the counter and pay the fee of around $25. She then checks you in. Don’t be fooled into thinking that CIP gives you a better choice of seat, as they don’t have "the best seats". Whenever someone checks in, they contact the regular check in by walky-talky and get given the next free seat. That is how it works. I wanted row four, as that was the first row of economy and had a bit more room. I was told in no uncertain terms that on this aircraft row five was the first row, so I took it. When I got in board - guess who had been right? Hint - it was not her! It turned out that the front row was reserved for engineers and off duty crew. Fare-paying passengers don’t get the front row!

The only time it will count is that if a flight is overbooked, as the flights to Almaty (the commercial centre) often are, they will not "bump" a CIP passenger.

Once you’ve handed over your ticket and money you can sit down; there are some large, comfy armchairs around little tables and once you have sat down a lady comes round and offers you tea or coffee, complimentary. This room has clearly been modernised and refurbished. About thirty minutes before departure you get called through into the next room where there is the x-ray and security check, then into a final holding area - again with plenty of comfy seats - before boarding.

They have a fairly new minibus for the CIP passengers, with about eight seats, but they will only run it once so if there are more than eight passengers, the last ones on have to stand bent double for the run out to the plane!

Is CIP worth $25? Really that is up to you. I have used it several times because if there is a delay or the flight is full, it gives the extra security. So I can spend a bit more time working in town and arrive at the airport a bit later and know that I will still get my seat. If you are on an international flight, it is almost certainly worth it too as you won’t be so uncomfortable. However, the best thing for Atyrau airport would be some significant investment!


This review is part of the great airport writeoff. Well, I am sure I read about an airport W/O but I've been off the net for a week while moving house and country. Now I am back on line, I cannot find anything about an airport W/O so either it is over, or I was under the influence of vodka.




Recommended: No

Best Suited For: Singles
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May