Almaty International Airport

All you want to know about Almaty International Airport

Almaty International Airport
Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы
Международный Аэропорт Алматы

IATA: ALA – ICAO: UAAA
Summary
Airport type Civil
Operator JSC Almaty International Airport
Serves Almaty, Kazakhstan
Elevation AMSL 681 m / 2234 ft
Coordinates 43°21′07″N 077°02′26″E / 43.35194, 77.04056
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05R/23L 4,397 14,427 Asphalt
05L/23R 4,500 14,764 Concrete

Almaty International Airport (Kazakh: Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы, Russian: Международный Аэропорт Алматы) (IATA: ALA, ICAO: UAAA) is the largest international airport in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. It is located about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the centre of Almaty, the country's largest city and commercial capital. Almaty airport accounts for half of passenger traffic and 68% of cargo traffic to Kazakhstan.[1]

In 2006, the airport handled 2.0 million passengers (23% growth to 2005).

Contents

History

The airport was built in 1935. Up to 1990 it was the part of Kazakh Department of Civil Aviation, and then reorganized into "Alma-Ata Airport" in 1991. Since 1993 it has run as an independent business unit. In 1994 it was reorganized into OJSC "Almaty Airport" and later renamed to JSC Almaty International Airport.

Following a runway reconstruction in 1998, Almaty airport was awarded II category and status of an International Airport.

On 9 July 1999 a fire started in the kitchen of the airport restaurant. The whole terminal building burned down in just a few hours, fortunately without major injuries. Construction of a new terminal was completed in 2004.

The old Soviet-era terminal, now used for general aviation

Almaty Airport is a hub for the national carrier Air Astana. It is also a major Central Asian cargo hub.

Presentation of the project of a new runway construction took place at Almaty International Airport on July 19, 2006. The construction of the second runway has been started as early as 1992 but was frozen due to the lack of funds. Operations were resumed in 2006 owing to investments of AIA JSC shareholders. Project’s cost is USD 50 million. 7 million has been applied for the present moment.

The new runway will accept all types of aircraft without limitation of take-off weight and operations frequency.

On September 30th, 2008 the runway was opened with a first departure of a BMI flight bound for London Heathrow. The new runways has also been given an ICAO certificate for CAT III landings which will significantly reduce the number of planes diverting to nearby airfields due to low visibility, especially during the winter months.

It is planned to build a new passenger terminal for international flights with six loading bridges and capacity up to 2500 passengers per hour in the nearest future. Developed infrastructure complex consisting of: a Marriott Hotel, conference halls, business center, shopping center, cinemas will be located within the territory of this terminal. The new terminal will be located along Kuldja road that will help to reduce traffic on the way to the airport.

PM Karim Masimov ordered Samruk (Samruk is the government's asset management holding company) to buy Almaty International Airport.[2]

Airlines and destinations

Domestic destinations

  • Air Astana (Aktau, Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Oral, Oskemen, Pavlodar, Shymkent)
  • SCAT (Aktau, Kostanay, Oskemen, Petropavl, Semey, Shymkent)
  • Semeyavia (Semey)
  • Zhezair (Zhezkazgan)

International destinations

See also

References

  1. ^ Euromoney: ISI Intellinews http://www.euromoney.com/article.asp?ArticleID=1856080
  2. ^ Euromoney: ISI Intellinews 23/01/2008 http://www.euromoney.com/article.asp?ArticleID=1856080
  3. ^ Etihad to begin flights to Almaty
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007)

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Almaty International Airport
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaty_International_Airport"

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