Almaty International Airport

Almaty International Airport Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы Международный Аэропорт Алматы
IATA: ALA – ICAO: UAAA
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	JSC Almaty International Airport
Serves	Almaty
Location	15 km NE of Almaty, Kazakhstan
Hub for	Air Astana Bek Air SCAT Qazaq Air
Elevation AMSL	681 m / 2,234 ft
Coordinates	43°21′19″N 077°02′41″E / 43.35528°N 77.04472°ECoordinates: 43°21′19″N 077°02′41″E / 43.35528°N 77.04472°E
Website	alaport.com
Map
UAAA Location in Kazakhstan
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05R/23L 4,400 14,436 Concrete 05L/23R 4,500 14,764 Concrete
Statistics (2012)
Passengers[1] 4,003,004
Source: AIP Kazakhstan[2]

Almaty International Airport (Kazakh: Xalıqaralıq Almatı Äwejayı/Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы, Russian: Международный Аэропорт Алматы) (IATA: ALA, ICAO: UAAA) is the largest international airport in Kazakhstan. It is located about 15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Almaty,^[2] the country's largest city and commercial capital. Almaty airport accounts for half of passenger traffic and 68% of cargo traffic to Kazakhstan.^[3] In 2012, the airport handled 4,003,004 passengers, including 1,997,570 arriving passengers, and 2,005,434 departing passengers.

History

The airport was built in 1935, for all small civil/military flying ships. 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 went into 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 II category and status of an International Airport.

On 9 July 1999 a fire started in the shashlik 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.

On 30 September 2008 a second runway was opened with a first departure of a BMI flight bound for London Heathrow. The new runway 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. This runway is the longest in central Asia. The new runway can accept all types of aircraft without limitation of take-off weight and operations 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.^[4]

There are 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 will be located within the territory of this terminal. The new terminal was to be located along Kuldja Road in order to help reduce traffic on the way to the airport. However the construction of the new terminal was delayed due to lack of managers handling the construction of project. The airport is still currently looking for a new manager to handle the construction that's currently unfinished. There has also been proposal to build the entire new Almaty airport 48 km to the North-East of Almaty or still focus on expanding new terminal.

Airlines and destinations

Air Astana Boeing 757-200 taxing at Almaty International Airport.

Uzbekistan Airways Boeing 757-200 at Almaty International Airport.

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo[5]
Aeroflot operated by Rossiya	St Petersburg
Air Arabia	Sharjah
Air Astana	Aktau, Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau, Baku, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing-Capital, Bishkek, Delhi, Dubai-International, Dushanbe, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Istanbul-Atatürk, Karagandy, Kiev-Boryspil, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kyzylorda, London-Heathrow, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Oral,[6] Oskemen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pavlodar, St Petersburg, Seoul-Incheon, Taraz (begins 1 June 2016),[7] Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tehran Imam-Khomeini (begins 30 June 2016),[8] Ürümqi
Asiana Airlines	Seoul-Incheon
Bek Air	Aktau,[9] Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau, Kostanay,[10] Oral
Belavia	Minsk-National[11]
China Southern Airlines	Ürümqi
Czech Airlines	Seasonal: Prague[12]
Ellinair	Seasonal: Thessaloniki[13]
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi
flydubai	Dubai-International[14]
Hainan Airlines	Beijing-Capital
KLM	Amsterdam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt
Mahan Air	Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen
Qazaq Air	Astana, Pavlodar, Shymkent, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Semey (begins 6 May 2016)[15]
S7 Airlines	Novosibirsk
SCAT	Aktau, Aktobe, Astana, Atyrau, Karagandy, Kokshetau, Kostanay, Mineralnye Vody, Oral, Oskemen, Petropavl, Sanya, Semey, Shymkent, Taraz, Urdjar, Xi'an,[16] Zhezkazgan
Somon Air	Dushanbe, Khudzhand
Tajik Air	Dushanbe
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Turkmenistan Airlines	Ashgabat
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil
Uzbekistan Airways	Tashkent
Yamal Airlines	Yekaterinburg (begins 30 May 2016)[17]

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
AirBridgeCargo Airlines	Hong Kong
Cargolux	Budapest, Hong Kong, Luxembourg
Cargolux Italia	Hong Kong, Milan-Milpensa
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Beijing-Capital, Zhengzhou[18]
FedEx	Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Hong Kong Airlines	Hong Kong, Istanbul-Atatürk, Delhi
Lufthansa Cargo	Hong Kong, Tashkent
Martinair Cargo	Amsterdam, Hong Kong
MNG Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Silk Way Airlines	Baku
Turkish Airlines Cargo	Astana, Bishkek, Guangzhou, Istanbul-Atatürk, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong
UPS	Cologne/Bonn, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong

Accidents and incidents

• 7 July 1980, Aeroflot flight 4227: All 163 occupants of a Tupolev Tu-154B-2, tail number CCCP-85355, lost their lives when the aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Alma-Ata Airport. The airplane was due to operate a domestic scheduled Alma-Ata–Simferopol passenger service under the Kazakh division as Flight 4227; the airspeed suddenly dropped because of thermal currents it encountered during climb out, causing the airplane to stall about 5 km (3.1 mi) away, crashing and catching fire.
• 30 August 1980, Aeroflot Flight CCCP-65129, Tupolev Tu-134 crashed on approach to Almaty after a flight from Chelyabinsk where all 90 passengers and crew died.^[19]
• 29 January 2013, SCAT Airlines flight 760, a Bombardier CRJ200, registration UR-CJ006, crashed during a low-visibility approach into Almaty International Airport that originated from Kokshetau. All 21 occupants died. The deputy mayor of Almaty, Maulen Mukashev, visited the crash site and told reporters that the preliminary cause of the crash is bad weather. The accident is currently under investigation.

See also

• List of the busiest airports in the former USSR

References

1. "Almaty Airport's work results for 2011". en.alaport.com.
2. http://goszakup.ans.kz/AIP/AIRAC_AMDT_01_13/AIP/html/UA-frameset-en-KZ.html
3. "ISI Intellinews". euromoney.com.
4. "Building the "Silk Road in the Sky" via Kazakhstan". The Gazette of Central Asia (Satrapia). 16 September 2012.
5. L, J (26 October 2015). "AEROFLOT Assumes Transaero Kazakhstan Operation from late-Oct 2015". Airline Route. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
6. L, J (23 January 2015). "Air Astana Adds Almaty – Uralsk Service from Jan 2015". Airline Route. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
7. http://airlineroute.net/2015/09/01/kc-aladmb-jun16/
8. "Air Astana Delays Tehran Launch to late-June 2016". airlineroute. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
9. "Bek Air. Новое направление полетов Алматы-Актау-Алматы". International Travel plus. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
10. "Bek Air. Новое направление полетов Алматы-Костанай-Алматы". International Travel plus. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
11. "Belavia Adds New Almaty Service from late-April 2015". Airline Route. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
12. L, J (16 September 2015). "CSA Czech Airlines Almaty Service Changes Oct 2015 – Mar 2016". Airline Route. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
13. "Ellinair destinations". 27 January 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
14. L, J (21 July 2014). "flydubai to Start Kazakhstan Service from mid-Sep 2014". airlineroute.net/. Airline Route. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
15. "Qazaq Air opens Amaty-Semey services from 06 May 2016". Kazinform. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
16. "SCAT запускает рейс в китайский Сиань". Tengrinews. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
17. L, J (6 May 2016). "Yamal Airlines Adds Kazakhstan Flights from late-May 2016". Airline Route. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
18. L, J (21 April 2016). "ETIHAD Cargo Adds New Cargo Sectors in S16". Airline Route. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
19. Harro Ranter (30 August 1983). "ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 134A CCCP-65129 Alma-Ata".

http://en.tengrinews.kz/industry_infrastructure/Kazakhstans-President-approves-of-a-new-airport-near-Almaty-26806/

External links

• Official website
• Accident history for ALA at Aviation Safety Network
• Current weather for UAAA at NOAA/NWS