UACC
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport
IFR
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Name
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport
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ICAO / IATA / GPS
UACC / NQZ / UACC
- Type
- Restriction
- Region
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Timezone
10:08 am (ALMT)
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Municipality
Nur-Sultan
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Coordinates
51° 1′ 19″ N 71° 28′ 0″ E
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Elevation
1’166 ft (355 m MSL)
About Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (IATA: NQZ, ICAO: UACC), alternatively referred by its previous name as Astana International Airport until 2017 (or simply Astana Airport), is the international airport serving Astana, Kazakhstan, the capital and second most populous city in the country. It is the primary aviation hub for northern Kazakhstan. Regionally, it stands as the second-busiest international air passenger gateway into Central Asia after Almaty International Airport (ALA). The airport is also the second-busiest airport in terms of total passenger traffic, air traffic movements and total cargo handled in Kazakhstan, with ~8,300,000 passengers served annually in 2024, a 10,67% increase compared with 2023, a new passenger record for the airport. On average, the airport handles more than 200 departures a day.
It is located in the Esil administrative subdivision of Astana, 6.5 NM (12.0 km; 7.5 mi) south-east of the city centre. The airport features two passenger terminals and single runway along with cargo and maintenance facilities. The airport's passenger domestic terminal (T2; 2000–05) is a well-known landmark designed by the late Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who also designed the original terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
It serves as the secondary large hub for the national flag carrier of Kazakhstan – Air Astana, including its low-cost subsidiary – FlyArystan, the homebase for Qazaq Air, and is the primary operating base for SCAT Airlines and was also formerly a hub for Starlines Kazakhstan and Tselinograd OAO. The airport is operated by state-owned JSC "Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport" which also operates Kokshetau Airport in Akmola Region.
The facility was established in 1930 and began operating as a public airport in 1931 as Akmolinsk Airport then, as the city changed its name, renamed as Tselinograd Airport and then as Astana International Airport. The airport was given its current name by the Kazakhstan government in June 2017, in honour of former President of Kazakhstan (1990 – 2019) Nursultan Nazarbayev, under whose presidency it was constructed and inaugurated.