Kazakhstan’s Almaty Airport reopens for flights

Almaty Airport, which was closed to flights for security reasons on the evening of January 5 during the events in Kazakhstan, reopened for flights today.

The gateway is part of TAV Airports’ global airport network.

TAV Airports president and CEO, Sani Şener, said: “Kazakhstan has a special importance for us due to our historical and cultural ties. We watched with sadness that the peaceful demonstrations in the country turned into acts of violence in the coming days despite the positive approach of the administration.

“The main entrance gate of the commercial and cultural capital of the country, Almaty Airport, which we have been operating since May, has also been the target of violence. In co-operation with Kazakh authorities, we ensured the safety of our passengers and employees.

“With the security forces restoring the order, we started to work on reopening the airport for operation. As of this morning, we opened the airport to flights after obtaining the necessary permits.

“We believe in the future of Kazakhstan, which is the largest country in Central Asia geographically and economically. With the normalisation of daily life in the country, flight traffic will quickly recover.”

Air Astana, Flydubai, Scat, Qazak Air and Nordwind airlines made their flights in the morning with the start of flights at Almaty Airport.

Almaty Airport, the main base of the country’s flag carrier airline Air Astana, handled 6.1 million passengers in 2021, just 6% below 2019’s all-time high of 6.4 million.

Bek Air, SCAT Airlines and Qazak Air also use the airport as their bases. Turkish Airlines and Pegasus have regular direct flights between Istanbul and Almaty. Air Astana carries nearly half of the passenger traffic, while THY ranks first in cargo operations.