Ashgabat (airport)

Airport in Soviet times

The beginning of Turkmen civil aviation can be considered 1927, at which time air links began to work between Chardzhou and Tashauz, flying through the settlements of Turtkul and Novo-Urgench. For this flight, aircraft were used for Junkers U-13 passengers for four people purchased in Germany, as well as Soviet passenger K-4 aircraft. 8 aircraft served this airline. Later, in 1932, Soviet aircraft were purchased for the transport of passengers. K-5 aircraft had six seats, as well as ANT-9 aircraft, which had twelve seats. With the replenishment of the air fleet of Turkmenistan, in 1932, an air unit was formed at Chardjow Airport that directly served the Chardzhou-Tashauz route, without transfers to other settlements.

Saparmurat Turkmenbashi Airport

In 1994, the new building of the Ashgabat airport terminal was opened, which has a unique architecture and modern technical equipment. There are two artificial runways equipped in the second category of ICAO and an apron that allows receiving aircraft of all types. More than one and a half million passengers used local and international airlines annually. On the territory of the airport, there were spacious waiting rooms, passport, customs and border control services working around the clock, help desk, VIP and CIP lounges, a business club, ticket offices for ticket sales and reservations, shops, bars, and quick checkpoints. catering, currency exchange, new conveyor systems for baggage transportation, international telephone communications, a room for mother and child, offices of representative offices of foreign airlines. The building was dismantled in 2013. From 1994 to 2016, the airport was named after the first president of the country, Saparmurat Niyazov .

New Airport (2016)

On September 17, 2016, the opening of a new airport took place with the participation of the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov . The construction of the airport began by the Turkish company Polimeks in January 2013 and was completed in September 2016 ^{[1] [3]} .

The project includes the construction of three terminals - passenger, VIP and cargo. A new runway with a length of 3800 meters was built and the existing runway was reconstructed ^[4] . Taxiways, parking spaces and aprons for aircraft, air traffic control service towers, a 72 meter long control tower were built. The total area of ​​the site on which the airport complex is located is 1200 hectares ^[2] .

The new terminal of the international airport is presented in the form of a bird, the falcon-lachin, which in the form of spreading wings, is presented for residents and guests of the capital. The building is constructed of steel structures, glass, and is also lined with white stone, which fascinates with its beauty ^[5] . There are thirty telescopic gates on the territory of the international airport, which serve passengers to enter the plane, as well as from the plane to the terminal building. The territory of the terminal is 166 thousand square meters, as well as a height of 45 meters, and the length is more than 68 meters.

The new airport complex, having a unique design of our time, is the “calling card” of the capital of Turkmenistan. Ashgabat International Airport has the ability to serve more than 14 million people annually, for which more than 1800 aviation specialists work at the airport. For the convenience and safety of passengers, the airport is focused on the latest innovative technologies that will ensure safety at the Ashgabat international airport. Thus, telescopic bridges are concentrated on the territory of the airport for the safe passage of passengers to and from the aircraft, electronic check-in desks, where passengers are provided with all services, as well as running elevators and escalators. In addition, the airport provides HVAC - cooling and heating systems. There are also FIDS - warning systems that in different languages ​​provide information about flights on an electronic board, as well as X-RAY - X-ray scanners that help to timely identify contraindicated means; CCTV is a video surveillance system that allows the airport security service to timely detect any offenses. The international airport also has a modern fire-fighting system, and the alarm system itself.

The passenger terminal is five-story and is designed for local and international flights. Waiting and registration rooms, information boards, information bureaus, touch electronic information system, ticket offices, Internet cafes, post offices, pay phones, rental points for hotels and reserving hotels, currency exchange, ATMs, luggage rooms, cafeterias, restaurants, duty-free shops . There are hotels for pilots and transit passengers, rooms for mother and child, special playgrounds, first aid rooms, kiosks for the press and retail, a conference room.

The cargo terminal with storage facilities is designed to handle 200 thousand tons of cargo per year with a centralized station for fueling aircraft, hangars for the maintenance of aircraft and helicopters.

The airport housed the administrative buildings of the State National Service “Turkmenhovaella” ^[6] , aviation transport companies “Turkmenistan” and the flight detachment “Turkmen Airlines”. A school for training aviation personnel was built ^[7] , where 600 people and a simulator complex for training crews, medical and sports centers, underground and outdoor car parks — service and for passengers ^[8] can be trained at the same time. It is also planned to open a museum for the development of Turkmen aviation ^[9] .

You can drive to the airport by car either along Bitarap Turkmenistan Avenue or along Atamurat Niyazov Avenue. There is 24-hour parking around the airport. At the station square there are bus stops and taxis allowing passengers to be transported to anywhere in Ashgabat .

Terminal 2

The small passenger Terminal 2 of the new international airport in Ashgabat was built on the site of the airport that existed from Soviet times . March 26, 2014 it was put into operation, temporarily taking over the services of passengers departing and arriving in Ashgabat for the period of construction of the main passenger terminal of the international airport ^[10] . The total area of ​​the small terminal is 14 thousand square meters. It is capable of serving 1,200 passengers per hour of international and local flights. It consists of three parts: local flights zones, VIP zones and international flights zones ^[9] . After the main airport complex was commissioned in September 2016, the small terminal is used to process passengers departing by local flights ^[11] . Since September 2016, it serves only domestic flights.

In Soviet times, the airport was used exclusively for servicing flights within the country - the USSR . Currently, in addition to the aircraft of the local airline fleet, the airport serves the planes of several foreign airlines in the world, performing both passenger and cargo flights.

• Ashgabat International Airport. // ashgabatairport.gov.tm
• The project of the new airport. // polimeks.com