I saw that there was a spotting community in Almaty Kazakstan. This meant that spotting was
at least possible. They also had some nice pictures, but you never know how few and far between
these were. I decided to take the gamble and booked a ticket with Turkish airlines via Istanbul.
After having been there I am sorry to report that the days of the russian build airliners are
rapidly coming to an end. I only saw 2 Yak42's flying in the 3 days I was there. No Tupolev's
or IL's were thundering through the sky. Luckily the airforce still had some moving Antonov's.
Also the traffic was slower then I was expecting. Air Astana is the dominant airline with SCAT,
Sapsan and Bek avia, Caspian and Irtysh also from this country. There are 2 daily flight from
Transaero, Air Ukraine and Uzbekistan also make regular appearances.
The aiport is also used for fuelstops between asia and europe with Fedex, UPS, LH Cargo coming
in with MD 11's and Air Cargo Germany and Evergreen use jumbo's.
What the place lacked in movements it made up for in scenery. I was able to shoot some
very nice images. With no security forces involvement what so ever.
I hope you enjoy the mix
Almaty is surrounded on 2 sides by huge mountains
While taxying in: Kohzu Avia
The local scenery at 6 in the morning
Afternoon shots with the mountains in the background
The next morning
In the evening there was an elevated spot along the runway(s)
This plane belongs to the family of the president, I hope the reg is not their motto
The airforce comes to liven things up
They were building a new terminal but the airport director took of with the money so building work has stopped
rain in the mountains
some more from the 3rd day
runways get used in both directions
And taxying out for departure
kind regards
EC
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