Saltanat Tompiyeva, chair of the Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan's Ministry of Transport, said at the 8th New Silk Way international transport and logistics business forum in Astana that the country is developing a civil aviation master plan to 2050 together with ICAO. The document is meant to set the long-term direction for the industry.
In the first nine months of 2026 Kazakh airlines carried 12.4 million passengers. Flights operate to 31 countries, and 24 new routes have opened this year. Airports handled 136.5 thousand tonnes of cargo.
Infrastructure projects were also named at the forum. The Astana airport strategy to 2035 includes a second runway, expanded cargo infrastructure and digitalisation. Karaganda airport, under its QarGo Hub concept, expects cargo volumes of up to 61 thousand tonnes this year. An aviation and logistics hub is being developed in Aktau with potential investment of 400-500 million dollars. SCAT presented a programme for a hub in Shymkent consisting of 12 investment projects, including aircraft maintenance and airport expansion. The cost of Astana's second runway and the list of SCAT projects with amounts have not been disclosed.
Our assessment: three hubs with a focus on maintenance and cargo create demand for MRO services, leasing and infrastructure financing. For now these are strategies without disclosed budgets, except for Aktau. For MRO providers and lessors it is a reason to approach hub operators early. This is flycentralasia's conclusion, not a statement by the Civil Aviation Committee.