Oral Ak Zhol Airport

Oral Ak Zhol Airport (formerly known as Uralsk Ak Zhol and Podstepnyy during the Soviet era) (IATA: URA, ICAO: UARR) is an airport in Kazakhstan located 12 km (7 mi) southeast of Oral (Uralsk). It is a small airport servicing medium-sized airliners. It has parking for 4 jets. This airport has two terminals – domestic and international. The airport also serves the nearby town of Aksai, which provides the majority of Ak Zhol passenger traffic, being the "capital" of the gas industry in West Kazakhstan. In the past, a weekly international charter flight was operated by Astraeus Airlines from Oral to London Gatwick/London Stansted; this was subsequently operated by Air Astana to Amsterdam; however the route was terminated, along with other Air Astana flights, due to the poor condition of the runway. The airport runway and facilities were inspected by Mott MacDonald to confirm that its substandard condition prevented the airport from accommodating larger jet aircraft. On 17 April 2013 the decision was made to transfer the airport's ownership back to the government for runway reconstruction.