Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport: Difference between revisions
Second-busiest airport in Kazakhstan
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Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport[1]
Халықаралық Нұрсұлтан Назарбаев Әуежайы Halyqaralyq Nūrsūltan Nazarbaev Äuejaiy |
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Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport in 2021 |
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development[3] | ||||||||||
| Operator | JSC “Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport” | ||||||||||
| Serves | City of Koshy in Akmola Region and Astana, Kazakhstan | ||||||||||
| Location | Esil District, Astana (inside city limits), Kazakhstan | ||||||||||
| Opened | 1931 | ||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||
| Focus city for | |||||||||||
| Operating base for | |||||||||||
| Built | 2002–2005 | ||||||||||
| Time zone | ALMT (UTC+06:00) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 355 m / 1,165 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 51°01′19″N 071°28′01″E / 51.02194°N 71.46694°E | ||||||||||
| Website | nn-airport.kz | ||||||||||
 
NQZ (Asia) |
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Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport[a] (IATA: NQZ, ICAO: UACC), alternatively referred by its previous name as Astana International Airport (or simply Astana Airport), is the international airport serving Astana, Kazakhstan, the capital and second most populous city in the country. Regionally, it stands as the second-busiest international air passenger gateway into Central Asia after Almaty International Airport (ALA). The airport is also the 8th busiest airport in the Post-Soviet states and the second-busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic and aircraft movements in Kazakhstan, with 6,001,471 passengers in 2022.
It is located in the Esil administrative subdivision of Astana, 16.7 km (10.4 mi) south-east of the city centre. The airport features two passenger terminals and single runway along with cargo and maintenance facilities. Terminal 2 was designed by the late Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa.[5] It serves as the secondary hub for the national flag carrier – Air Astana, including its low-cost subsidiary – FlyArystan, the homebase for Qazaq Air, and is the primary operating base for SCAT Airlines and was also formerly a hub for Starlines Kazakhstan and Tselinograd OAO.[6][7] The airport is operated by JSC “Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport” which also operates Kokshetau Airport.
The facility was established in 1930 and began operating as a public airport in 1931 as Akmolinsk Airport then, as the city changed its name, renamed as Tselinograd Airport and then as Astana International Airport. The airport was given its current name in June 2017, in honour of former President of Kazakhstan (1990 – 2019) Nursultan Nazarbayev, under whose presidency it was constructed and inaugurated.[8] On June 8, 2020, the airport officially changed its three-character IATA airport code from TSE to NQZ.[9] It has been recognised as the ‘Best Regional Airport in Central Asia and CIS‘ at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2022.[10]
Location[edit]
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport is 16.7 km (10.4 mi) south-east of Astana city centre.[11] It is bordered by the village of Kyzylsuat to the west, Maybalyk lake to the north, and the city of Koshy in Akmola Region to the east.
History[edit]
Establishment and early operational history[edit]
The airport was built in 1930, three kilometers from Akmolinsk (now Astana) within the area of today’s modern architectural tower of Baiterek. There was a square field for aircraft take-off and landing, an adobe 8-room station with a small waiting hall, a two-room house for pilots, and fuel storage on the airport grounds.[12] In December 1931, the first airfield of Astana was built on the outskirts of the town and was developed further after World War II. Regular air traffic was established between Semipalatinsk and Akmolinsk (day of enterprise establishment).[13]
During times of flooding, the aerodrome was closed. Communication between the aerodrome and the city was by phone, ferry (there was no bridge over Ishim River), and footpath. In the first few years, the air traffic was ad-hoc by character, with loose timetables, such as “Aircraft departure on Monday morning” or “On Wednesday at sunrise”. Transportation of passengers, mail, and cargo was carried out by Kalinin K-4, Kalinin K-5, Polikarpov R-5, Petlyakov Pe-2 aircraft. Regular flights were established in 1934, with the following routes: Alma-Ata – Karaganda – Akmolinsk – Atbasar – Kostanay – Sverdlovsk. Karaganda – Petropavlovsk – Korgalzhyn – Akmolinsk.[13]
At the beginning of 1946, the first group of Polikarpov Po-2 aircraft arrived in Akmolinsk for regular service. The group belonged to a Karaganda aviation enterprise. The following routes were opened for passenger and mail transportation: Akmolinsk – Korgalzhyn – Aksu – Astrakhanka – Balkashino (settlements of Akmolinsk Region). The operations division was organized consisting of two people. In 1946, aviation began to…
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