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Sary-Arka Airport

Sary-Arka Airport

Saryarqa äuejaiy
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerSky Service LLP
OperatorJSC “Sary-Arka International Airport”
ServesQarağandy
Location24 km (15 mi) SE of Qarağandy, Kazakhstan
Hub forAsia Wings (defunct)
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL538 m / 1,765 ft
Coordinates49°40′17″N 073°20′11″E / 49.67139°N 73.33639°E / 49.67139; 73.33639
Websitewww.kgf.aero
Maps
KGF is located in Kazakhstan
KGF
KGF
Location in Kazakhstan
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 3,602 11,818 Reinforced Concrete
Statistics
Passengers301 784
Source: AIP Kazakhstan[1]

Sary-Arka Airport (Kazakh: Saryarqa äuejaiy) (IATA: KGF, ICAO: UAKK) is an International airport which serves the city Qarağandy and its satellite town in Kazakhstan. It is located 24 km (15 mi) southeast[1] of the city.

History

The initial 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 as a bus terminal and a market for car parts.

In 1980 it underwent major reconstructions, including the construction of a new terminal building and the modernization of the runway. This made the landing of heavier aircraft possible, which allowed a gateway to many new destinations in the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the airport was granted international status. It has become an independent joint stock company after the separation from JSC "Karagandaavia" in 1997. It is not related to Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan on the World Heritage List.

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[2] with MiG-31s, Su-27s and Su-25s.

The airport is usually used as a staging area, from which the returning crewmembers of the International Space Station are flown to their respective home bases at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the Johnson Space Center or the European Astronaut Centre following a traditional welcome ceremony upon landing in their Soyuz (spacecraft) capsule.

Accidents

  • On October 27, 1959, near the Karaganda airport in difficult weather conditions (below the airfield's meteorological minimum), a Li-2 plane crashed. One passenger was killed and seven were injured.[3]
  • On November 29, 2010, a Boeing 747 of the Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific, flying from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, made an emergency landing at the airport. The cause of the emergency landing was depressurization of the cabin.[4]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
AeroflotMoscow–Sheremetyevo
FlyArystan Almaty
Seasonal: Antalya[5]
Southern Sky Jezqazğan, Öskemen
Sunday Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
MSC Air Cargo Hong Kong, Liege
My Freighter Tashkent
SF Airlines Liege, Yantai

References

Media related to Sary-Arka Airport at Wikimedia Commons