Nikolai Alexeyevich Kuznetsov

In 1989, Nikolai Kuznetsov, along with Vladimir Kouropatenko, founded Sayakhat Airlines, the first private airline in the Kazakh SSR. The airline commenced operations on June 30, 1991. Kuznetsov was chairman of the company, and a member of board of directors. During this time he was elected as a member of the government nonprofit civil aviation veteran organization. In addition he was a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Transportation of Kazakhstan. Also he was involved in multiple social activities. He gave lectures in different Universities of Kazakhstan, which included many patriotic themes.

During his tenure, the Civil Aviation of Kazakhstan won acclaim for being equipped with advanced aviation technology and better disciplined personnel than other Soviet counterparts. By the early 1980s more than one hundred thousand kilometers of air lines were opened in Kazakhstan. The capital of Kazakh SSR Alma-Ata was linked to all the capitals of Soviet republics. Also, Alma-ata was linked with all regional centers of Kazakhstan and various major cities and resort areas of the Soviet Union. More than fifty percent of Kazakhstan's population each year used these air transport services of Aeroflot Soviet Airlines. Up to fifteen million hectares of farmland were served by agricultural special airplanes. Seventeen airports were built during this time, as well as ten airports having their own hotels. The administration used the An-24, An-26, An-30, Il-18, Il-62, Il-86, Tu-134, Tu-154, Yak-40, Mi-2, and Mi-8 models of planes, requiring pilots and other aviation personnel to undergo specialized training. One out of every seventh employee of the technical aviation base had engineering degree. The Academy of Civil Aviation was founded in Alma-Ata. At the same time the Flight School was founded in Aktobe. The Ministry of Civil Aviation of the USSR founded a flight operations school in Burunday village. With the development of new aircraft in Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports in Moscow the flight personnel of Kazakhstan were predominantly selected.

A bronze monument in his homeland by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In the 1980s Kuznetsov was awarded the Council of Ministers of USSR, and he was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1963 Nikolay Kuznetsov was sent to the department of the Kazakh civil aviation in the position of deputy chief of the flight services. Seven years later in 1970 he became director of the department.

Nikolai and Kuznetsov settled in Alma-ata in the early 1950s. Here they raised their two daughters, a grandson and two granddaughters.

After completion of his military service in 1947, he became a pilot in the Akmola airport in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. A year later he was promoted to the director of the airport.

Upon the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa, Kuznetsov served in the Red Army. He graduated from military school as a pilot in 1942. After being chosen to receive further training in 1943, Kuznetsov began working as a pilot instructor for the Red Army. During this period, Kuznetsov also participated in a number of tasks and battles, such as an operation in the city of Magnitogorsk to eliminate Otto Skorzeny, and his division of Hitler's army. Skorzeny's plan was to destroy a steel factory, which produced ammunition for the Red Army. Soviet forces were able to neutralize Skorzeny's attempt, though Skorzeny himself managed to escape.

Nikolai Kuznetsov was married to Antonina Dmitievna Kuznetsova (August 28, 1924 – November 25, 2008) for over fifty years. She was born with the surname Bedanov in the Stavropol region of the Russian SSR. In her early childhood she moved with her parents, and two younger sisters to Baku, Azerbaijan. She graduated from the Medical Institute of Baku with a medical degree. Antonina worked in Akmola as a physician, and met Nikolai after he flew there in 1949. She continued her medical studies in Alma-ata where she became an OB/GYN doctor.

Nikolai Alexeyevich Kuznetsov (19 December 1922 —12 August 2009) was a Soviet, and later, Kazakhstani aviator. Kuznetsov served in the Soviet Armed Forces during World War II, and later went on to serve as the director of the Kazakh SSR's Administration of Civil Aviation. Kuznetsov has been called the "father of Kazakhstani aviation".

Nikolai Alexeyevich Kuznetsov (Russian: Николай Алексеевич Кузнецов) was born on December 19, 1922 in the village of Novo-Karpovka, in the Nurinsky District of the Karaganda region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.