Oral Ak Zhol Airport (formerly known as
Uralsk Ak Zhol and
Podstepnyy during the Soviet era) is an airport in
Kazakhstan located 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.