Sary-Arka Airport ( kk, Saryarqa äuejaiy) is the airport of

Karagandy Karaganda or Qaraghandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandy, ; russian: Караганда, ) is the capital of Karaganda Region in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is the fourth most populous city in Kazakhstan, behind Almaty (Alma-Ata), Astana ...

, Kazakhstan. It is located southeast of the city.

History

The airport was built in 1934, on a site at the edge of the city centre, and moved further out to its current location in 1944. The old terminal building on Shturman Street still stands, now occupied by a market for car parts. In 1980 it underwent major reconstruction, including the construction of a new terminal building and modernization of the runway. This made the landing of heavier aircraft possible and opened the door to many new destinations in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1992, the airport was granted international status. It has become an independent

joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...

after separation from JSC "Karagandaavia" in 1997. It is not related to Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan on the

World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

. Sary-Akra Airport is home to the 610th Air Base of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan, one of four fast jet bases in the country with MiG-31s,

Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 (russian: Сухой Су-27; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large US fourth-generation jet ...

s and

Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' (russian: Грач (''rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Gro ...

s. The airport is usually used as the staging area from which returning crewmembers of the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

are flown to their respective home bases at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

or the European Astronaut Centre following a traditional welcome ceremony upon landing in their Soyuz (spacecraft) capsule.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

References

External links

Sary-Arka Airport
* * *
Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
at

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

website {{authority control Airports built in the Soviet Union Airports in Kazakhstan Airport Saryarka Military installations of Kazakhstan Kazakh Air Defense Forces