Almaty Kazakstan spotting May 2012, Photoheavy!

I was looking for something different to do. Going through a russian planespotting site
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 traffice 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, Etihad and Uzbekistan also make regular appearances.
The aiprot is also used als a fuelstop between asia and europe with Fedex, UPS, LH Cargo coming
in with MD 11’s and Air Cargo Germany, Emirates 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