Sary-Arka Airport
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 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.
- 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.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aeroflot | Moscow–Sheremetyevo |
| FlyArystan | Almaty Seasonal: Antalya |
| Southern Sky | Oskemen, Zhezkazgan |
| Sunday Airlines | Seasonal charter: Antalya |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| MSC Air Cargo | Hong Kong, Liege |
| My Freighter | Tashkent |
| SF Airlines | Liege, Yantai |
References
- ^ AIP Kazakhstan Archived 30 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "World Air Forces 2015 pg. 21". Flightglobal Insight. 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ "Катастрофа Ли-2 Казахского ТУ ГВФ близ а/п Караганда (борт СССР-84746), 27 октября 1959 года. // AirDisaster.ru - авиационные происшествия, инциденты и авиакатастрофы в СССР и России - факты, история, статистика". www.airdisaster.ru. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
- ^ "Аварийная посадка". Время (in Russian). Retrieved 18 September 2024.
- ^ "FlyArystan Plans Karaganda – Antalya Service From late-May 2024". AeroRoutes. 10 April 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
External links
Media related to Sary-Arka Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Sary-Arka Airport
- Accident history for KGF at Aviation Safety Network
- Airport information for UAKK at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
- Current weather for UAKK at NOAA/NWS
- Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan at UNESCO website
