Shymkent International Airport ( kk, Halyqaralyq Şymkent Äuejaiy) is an airport serving

Shymkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is one ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. It features single passenger terminal and one runway. It serves as a hub for

SCAT Airlines SCAT Airlines, legally PLL SCAT Air Company, is an airline with its head office on the property of Shymkent International Airport in Shymkent, Kazakhstan. It operates services to all of the major cities of Kazakhstan and to neighbouring countries. ...

History

The basis for the airport was an agricultural airbase built in 1932. From 1933, it started handling passengers and cargo traffic. In 1963, the airport was relocated to its current location; construction of both the runway and the passenger terminal was finished in 1967. After a protocol signed in November 2012 by the governments of Kazakhstan and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, French forces withdrawing from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

received authorization to use Shymkent Airport. Military hardware arriving on French aircraft will then be transported by rail to Europe. France has to fund the creation of the infrastructure necessary for the temporary bond storage and the area needed for higher customs control to ensure the trans-shipment operations in Shymkent Airport. It will also finance the acquisition or the rent of loading vehicles to accelerate wagon loading, construction of of hard surface road, protection of freight in temporary storage and en route on Kazakhstan's railroad. In 2014, passenger traffic in this airport reached 440,000 passengers; in 2017, it reached 520,000.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Accidents and incidents

1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision: On November 12, 1996, Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an IL-76TD which took off from Shymkent International Airport collided with Saudia Flight 763, a

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

which took off from

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New De ...

, in the air over Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, India. All 289 passengers and 23 crew on Flight 763, and all 27 passengers and 10 crew on Flight 1907 were killed. A total of 349 people died, making it the deadliest ever mid-air collision involving two aircraft.

References

External links

Shymkent International Airport
Airports in Kazakhstan Airports built in the Soviet Union Shymkent Transport in Shymkent {{Kazakhstan-transport-stub