Almaty International Airport

Coordinates: 43°21′19″N 077°02′41″E / 43.35528°N 77.04472°E / 43.35528; 77.04472
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Almaty International Airport

Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы / Halyqaralyq Almaty Äuejaiy (Kazakh)
Almaty Airport logo.svg
Almaty Airport Osokin-1.jpg
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGroupe ADP
OperatorTAV Airports Holding
ServesAlmaty
LocationAlmaty, Kazakhstan (inside city limits)
Hub for
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL681 m / 2,234 ft
Coordinates43°21′19″N 077°02′41″E / 43.35528°N 77.04472°E / 43.35528; 77.04472
Websitealaport.com
Map
ALA/UAAA is located in Kazakhstan
ALA/UAAA
ALA/UAAA
Location in Almaty, Kazakhstan
ALA/UAAA is located in Asia
ALA/UAAA
ALA/UAAA
ALA/UAAA (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05R/23L 4,400 14,436 Concrete
05L/23R 4,500 14,764 Concrete
Statistics (2019)
Passengers6,422,721
Source: AIP Kazakhstan[2]

Almaty International Airport (IATA: ALA, ICAO: UAAA) (Kazakh: Halyqaralyq Almaty Äuejaiy) is a major international airport 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Almaty,[2] the largest city and commercial capital of Kazakhstan. It is the busiest airport in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, accounting for 7.23 million passengers in 2022.[3]

Owners and management[edit]

The airport is registered under name of "JSC Almaty International Airport", which is owned by Turkish airport company TAV Airports Holding, as well as many other airports available worldwide.

History[edit]

Early years[edit]

The airport was built in 1935 for use by small civil and military aircraft.[4] 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.

The supersonic transport (SST) Tupolev Tu-144 began service on 26 December 1975, flying mail and freight between Moscow and Alma-Ata in preparation for passenger services, which commenced in November 1977. The Aeroflot flight on 1 June 1978 was the Tu-144's 55th and last scheduled passenger service.

Following a runway reconstruction in 1998, Almaty airport was awarded a CAT II certificate and the status of an international airport.

On 9 July 1999, a fire started in the shashlik kitchen of the airport restaurant. The terminal building burned down in just a few hours, but without major injuries.

Development since 2000[edit]

Construction of a new terminal was completed in 2004. On 30 September 2008, a second runway was opened with the first departure being a BMI flight bound for London Heathrow. The new runway was also 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. The runway is the longest in central Asia. The new runway can accept all types of aircraft without limitation of take-off weight and operation frequency.

Growth in connectivity is in danger of being compromised by airport infrastructure that is comparatively expensive and not keeping pace with demand growth. IATA is urging the Kazakhstan government to follow ICAO principles and eliminate differential ANSP charges between domestic and international carriers. Currently (2012), it is 18% more expensive to turn around an Airbus A320 in Almaty than at similarly sized airports in Europe. The differential rises to 43% for a Boeing 767.[5]

There were plans to build a new passenger terminal for international flights with six loading bridges and capacity up to 2,500 passengers per hour in the near future. A developed infrastructure complex consisting of a Marriott Hotel, conference halls, business center, shopping center and cinemas were planned to be within this terminal.

The new terminal was to be located along Kuldja Road to help reduce traffic on the way to the airport. However the terminal's construction was stopped due to managers postponing the project's construction in 2010 because of disagreements with Air Astana's plans for the terminal which was intended to serve Air Astana international flights while the existing terminal would serve domestic destinations. According to the managers, the problems of this plan would be that Air Astana would have faculties operating, and its planes transferring from one end of the runway to another which would create delayed transporting problems for Air Astana; since the runway lines would be busy with the having lack of space of creating new runways. There has been a conclusion to demolish the construction and rebuild the new terminal used for domestic and international flights. There are now plans to build a new airport in Kapchagai reservoir which is 48 km away from Almaty.[6]

On February 17, 2012, in Moscow, at the 32nd session of the Council on Aviation and the Use of Airspace of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), Almaty International Airport was recognized as the best in the CIS and received the prize "For Achievements in the Development of International Airports".[7]

Protesters seized the airport on 5 January during the 2022 Kazakh unrest, halting flights. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said that eight members of Kazakh security forces had been killed and the insurgents had hijacked five airplanes, and he appealed to Russian security forces to retake the facility.[8][9] On 7 January, TASS reported that Collective Security Treaty Organization troops had occupied the airport and restored order.[10][better source needed]

In May 2022, a proposal was made to Deputy Prime Minister Roman Sklyar by a group of deputies from the People's Party of Kazakhstan to name the airport after Kazakh Soviet communist politician Dinmukhamed Kunaev.[11]

Airlines and destinations[edit]

Passenger[edit]

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo[12]
Air Arabia Sharjah
Air Astana[13] Aktau, Aktobe, Antalya, Astana, Atyrau, Baku, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Beijing–Capital,[14] Bishkek, Chengdu–Tianfu,[15] Colombo–Bandaranaike,[16] Delhi, Dubai–International, Dushanbe, Istanbul, Kyzylorda, London–Heathrow,[17] Malè, Oral, Oskemen, Phuket,[18] Seoul–Incheon, Shymkent, Tashkent, Tbilisi
Seasonal: Bodrum, Heraklion,[19] Podgorica[20]
Seasonal charter: Hambantota–Mattala,[21] Sharm El Sheikh
Air Seychelles Seasonal: Mahé[22]
airBaltic Seasonal: Riga
AnadoluJet Ankara[23]
Asiana Airlines Seoul–Incheon
Azerbaijan Airlines Baku
Belavia Minsk
China Southern Airlines Ürümqi,[24] Xi'an[25]
FlyArystan Aktau, Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau,[26] Doha,[27] Karagandy, Kostanay, Kutaisi, Omsk, Oral, Pavlodar, Petropavl, Semey, Shymkent, Taraz, Turkistan,[28] Yerevan[29]
flydubai Dubai–International
flynas Jeddah[30]
Hunnu Air Ulaanbaatar
IndiGo Delhi (begins 15 August 2023)[31]
Jazeera Airways Kuwait City[32]
Kish Air Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Neos Milan–Malpensa[33]
Nordwind Airlines Kaliningrad,[34] Samara[35]
Pegasus Airlines Ankara,[36] Antalya, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Qatar Airways Doha[37]
Qazaq Air Astana, Kokshetau, Shymkent, Taraz[38]
Red Wings Airlines Makhachkala, Moscow–Zhukovsky, Yekaterinburg
Rossiya Airlines Sochi[39]
S7 Airlines Novosibirsk
SalamAir Seasonal: Muscat (begins 1 July 2023)[40]
SCAT Airlines[41] Aktau, Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau, Balkhash,[42] Haikou,[43] Jeddah,[44] Karagandy, Kostanay, Kyzylorda,[45] Medina,[44] Mineralnye Vody, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Oral, Oskemen, Petropavl, Ras Al Khaimah,[46] Semey, Shymkent, Taraz, Zhezkazgan
Seasonal: Antalya,[47] Sanya
Seasonal charter: Goa–Dabolim,[48][49] Hambantota–Mattala[50]
SkyUp Kyiv–Boryspil (suspended)[51]
Somon Air Dushanbe
Sunday Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya, Malè, Nha Trang, Sanya, Sharm El Sheikh
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Turkmenistan Airlines Ashgabat[52]
Utair Tyumen
Uzbekistan Airways Tashkent
VietJet Air Nha Trang[53]
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi[54]

Cargo[edit]

AirlinesDestinations
Cargolux[55] Luxembourg
Cargolux Italia[56] Milan–Malpensa
Qatar Airways Cargo[57] Doha, Hong Kong
Silk Way West Airlines[58] Baku
Turkish Cargo[59] Astana, Bishkek, Guangzhou, Istanbul, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Taipei–Taoyuan
UPS Airlines[citation needed] Cologne/Bonn, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong

Statistics[edit]

Air Astana maintains its hub at Almaty International Airport.
A Kazakhstan Airlines Ilyushin Il-86 at Almaty International Airport in 1996
Check-in hall
Apron view

Annual traffic[edit]

Annual passenger traffic at ALA airport. See Wikidata query.
Annual passenger traffic[60][61][non-primary source needed][62]
Year Passengers % Change
2010 3,000,000 Steady
2011 3,665,538 Increase 22.2%
2012 4,003,004 Increase 9.2%
2013 4,323,224 Increase 8%
2014 4,588,866 Increase 6%
2015 4,905,307 Increase 6.9%
2016 4,878,450 Decrease 0.5%
2017 5,640,800 Increase 15.6%
2018 5,686,926 Increase 1%
2019 6,422,721 Increase 13%
2020 3,669,668 Decrease42.9%
2021 6,103,657 Increase 66.3%
2022 7,230,156 Increase18.5%|-

Accidents and incidents[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Almaty - Kazakhstan". world-airport-codes.com. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b "AIP Kazakhstan". Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
  3. ^ MarketScreener. "Aéroport de Paris SA - 2022 Full-year results | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Almaty International Airport". Airport Technology. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Building the 'Silk Road in the Sky' via Kazakhstan". The Gazette of Central Asia. Satrapia. 16 September 2012.
  6. ^ Бурдин, Виктор (16 May 2017). "Почему "Эйр Астана" против нового терминала аэропорта Алматы".
  7. ^ "Аэродром международного аэропорта Алматы назван лучшим в СНГ". www.aex.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  8. ^ Rodionov, Maxim; Trevelyan, Mark (5 January 2022). "Kazakh president seeks help from Russia-led security bloc". Reuters. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Kazakhstan president confirms takeover of Almaty airport | DW | 05.01.2022". Deutsche Welle. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  10. ^ "Peacekeepers take control over Almaty airport - Russian Defense Ministry". TASS. Moscow. 7 January 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  11. ^ "Аэропорту Алматы предложили присвоить имя Кунаева". 27 April 2022.
  12. ^ "Aeroflot Set to Resumes Kazakhstan flights on Wednesday". Simply Flying. 27 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Air Astana – Timetable". Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  14. ^ "Air Astana Resumes Its 2nd Chinese Route Since COVID-19".
  15. ^ "Air Astana NS23 Chengdu Service Changes". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  16. ^ "Air Astana launches scheduled services to Sri Lanka". www.anna.aero/. Anna Aero. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  17. ^ "UK to gain new route to largest Kazakh city and financial hub".
  18. ^ "Air Astana Launches New Service to Phuket Thailand". Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Air Astana launches new service to Crete". 5 April 2022.
  20. ^ "Air Astana to launch flights to Montenegro's Podgorica in June". seenews.com. 24 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Sri Lanka's Mattala Airport welcomes Air Astana, 2,500 tourists in 2021". economynext.com. 7 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Air Seychelles to Launch New Route to Almaty This December". The Astana Times. 29 November 2022.
  23. ^ "AnadoluJet Adds Ankara – Kazakhstan Routes in NW22".
  24. ^ "Mainland Chinese Carriers NS23 International / Regional Network – 23APR23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  25. ^ "China Southern Adds Xi'An – Almaty Service in 1Q23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  26. ^ Liu, Jim. "FlyArystan expands domestic network in July/August 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  27. ^ "FLYARYSTAN FILES QATAR 1Q23 SCHEDULES". Aeroroutes. 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  28. ^ "Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee to Launch First Flights to Country's Turkistan". AviationPros. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  29. ^ "FlyArystan will start operating flights on the route Almaty- Yerevan- Almaty". zvartnots.aero. 13 May 2022.
  30. ^ "Flynas Launches First Route to Kazakhstan". Arab News. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  31. ^ "Kazakhstan Opens Its Skies To India's Indigo Low-Cost Airline". MENAFN News Agency. 22 May 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  32. ^ "Jazeera Airways Launches First Ever Route Between Kazakhstan and Kuwait". Aviation Pros. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  33. ^ "Neos pronta a decollare da Milano Malpensa per il Kazakistan". 19 April 2022.
  34. ^ Casey, David. "Routes In Brief: Korean Air, Air Nostrum, Singapore Airlines And More". Routesonline. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  35. ^ Liu, Jim (16 April 2019). "Nordwind schedules new Central Asia service in 2Q19". Routesonline. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  36. ^ "Pegasus Adds Ankara – Almaty Service from Nov 2022".
  37. ^ "Qatar Airways announces the launch of flights to Almaty in Kazakhstan". TravelDailyNews International.
  38. ^ Liu, Jim. "Qazaq Air adds Almaty – Taraz route from July 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  39. ^ "Aeroflot launches international network from Sochi, Russia". 26 March 2022.
  40. ^ "SALAMAIR ADDS ALMATY / RIZE IN 3Q23". aeroroutes.com. 28 March 2023.
  41. ^ "SCAT Airlines – Timetable". Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  42. ^ Liu, Jim. "SCAT aircompany plans various domestic sector resumptions in W19". Routesonline. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  43. ^ "Direct flight links China's resort island, Kazakhstan's Almaty – Xinhua | English.news.cn". Xinhua News Agency. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  44. ^ a b Liu, Jim. "SCAT adds Saudi Arabia service in W19". Routesonline. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  45. ^ Liu, Jim. "SCAT expands Kyzylorda service in June 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  46. ^ "Direct flight to UAE". scat.kz. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  47. ^ "SCAT adds Almaty – Antalya service from late-Dec 2018". routesonline. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  48. ^ "First Charter flight from Kyrgyzstan lands at Dabolim Airport". Digital Goa. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  49. ^ "SCAT flight DV5212–Almaty (ALA) to Goa (GOI)". Flightradar24.
  50. ^ "SCAT Airlines operates inaugural flight to Mattala". adaderana.lk. 11 February 2021.
  51. ^ "Travelling East: SkyUp Announces Flights to Almaty". skyup.aero. 2 March 2021.
  52. ^ "TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES PLANS ALMATY SERVICE RESUMPTION FROM MAY 2023". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  53. ^ "Vietnam and Kazakhstan to Resume Direct Air Traffic in September". 26 August 2022.
  54. ^ "Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air plans to launch flights "Abu Dhabi-Nur-Sultan-Abu Dhabi"".
  55. ^ cargolux.com - Network & Offices retrieved 1 December 2021
  56. ^ cargolux-italia.com - Map retrieved 1 December 2021
  57. ^ Ltd, DVV Media International. "Qatar Airways Cargo adds another new freighter service". Air Cargo News. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  58. ^ silkwaywest.com - Schedule retrieved 1 December 2021
  59. ^ Ltd. 2019, UBM (UK). "Turkish Cargo adds 7 destinations in Jan 2018". Routesonline. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  60. ^ Airport. "files/ARAL/2016" (PDF). kase.kz.
  61. ^ UAAA. "Министерства по инвестициям и развитию РК". facebook.com.
  62. ^ "Аэропорт Алматы в 2018г увеличил пассажиропоток на 1%". interfax.kz. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  63. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev Tu-154B-2 CCCP-85355 Alma-Ata Airport (ALA)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  64. ^ VOA News (13 March 2021). "Kazakhstan Military Plane Crashes; 4 Killed" [Kazakhstan Military Plane Crashes; 4 Killed]. Voice of America. Archived from the original on 14 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  65. ^ Chris Loh (13 March 2021). "Antonov An-26 Turboprop Crashes In Kazakhstan" [Antonov An-26 Turboprop Crashes In Kazakhstan]. Simple Flying News. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.

External links[edit]

Media related to Almaty International Airport at Wikimedia Commons