Almaty International Airport

Almaty International Airport Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы Международный Аэропорт Алматы
IATA: ALA – ICAO: UAAA ALA Location of airport in Kazakhstan
Summary
Airport type		Civil
Owner		JSC Almaty International Airport
Serves		Almaty, Kazakhstan
Elevation AMSL		681 m / 2,234 ft
Coordinates		43°21′07″N 077°02′26″E
Website		http://en.alaport.com
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
05R/23L	4,397	14,427	Asphalt
05L/23R	4,500	14,764	Concrete
Statistics (2011)
Passengers			3,665,538

Almaty International Airport (Kazakh: Халықаралық Алматы Әуежайы, Russian: Международный Аэропорт Алматы) (IATA: ALA, ICAO: UAAA) is the largest international airport in Kazakhstan. It is located about 18 kilometers (11 mi) 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. In 2011, the airport handled 3,665,538 passengers (19% growth to 2010 – 3,077,615 passengers), including 1,830,297 arriving passengers, and 1,835,241 departing passengers.

History

The old Soviet-era terminal

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.

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.

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

On September 30, 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. In 2008, the airport handled 2.5 million passengers (23% growth to 2005).

Future

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.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Aerosvit Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil
Air Astana	Abu Dhabi, Aktau, Aktobe, Amsterdam, Antalya, Astana, Atyrau, Baku, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing-Capital, Bishkek, Delhi, Dushanbe, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Istanbul-Atatürk, Karaganda, Kostanay, Kuala Lumpur, Kyzylorda, London-Heathrow, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Oral, Oskemen, Pavlodar, Samara, St Petersburg, Seoul-Incheon, Shymkent, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Ürümqi
Asia Wings	Kokshetau, Petropavl
Asiana Airlines	Seoul-Incheon
Avia Traffic Company	Bishkek
Bek Air	Uralsk
BMI	London-Heathrow
China Southern Airlines	Ürümqi
Czech Airlines	Prague
Donbassaero	Kiev-Boryspil
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi
Hainan Airlines	Beijing-Capital
Irtysh Air	Karaganda, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Pavlodar, Oskemen
KLM	Amsterdam
Lufthansa	Frankfurt
Mahan Air	Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Pegasus Airlines	Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen
Rossiya	Saint Petersburg
RusLine	Yekaterinburg
S7 Airlines	Novosibirsk
SCAT	Aktau, Antalya, Astana, Bodrum, Dushanbe, Kokshetau, Kostanay, Petropavl, Saint Petersburg, Semey, Sharm el-Sheikh, Shymkent, Taraz, Tashkent
Semeyavia	Semey
Somon Air	Dushanbe
Sky Airlines	Antalya
Tajik Air	Dushanbe
Transaero Airlines	Moscow-Domodedovo
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul-Atatürk
Turkmenistan Airlines	Ashgabat
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil
Uzbekistan Airways	Tashkent

Note: ^1 : Although BMI's flight to London-Heathrow has a stop in Amritsar. It has no rights to transport passengers solely between Almaty and Amritsar.

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air Cargo Germany	Frankfurt-Hahn
Cargolux	Luxembourg
FedEx Express	Guangzhou, Paris Charles De Gaulle
DETA Air	Hong Kong
Emirates SkyCargo	Dubai, Shanghai-Pudong
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi
KLM Cargo operated by Martinair Cargo	Amsterdam
MNG Airlines	Istanbul-Ataturk
Lufthansa Cargo	Krasnoyarsk, Frankfurt
UPS Airlines	Cologne/Bonn, Shanghai, Warsaw

Accidents and incidents

• August 30, 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.
• July 7, 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 before5 km (3.1 mi) away crashing and catching fire

External links

• Official website
• Accident history for ALA at Aviation Safety Network
• Airport information for UAAA at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
• Current weather for UAAA at NOAA/NWS
• Airport information for UAAA at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.