Kokshetau Airport

The airport was constructed as a replacement for the former Kokshetau Airport that was located to the north of the city as a small grass airfield with a relatively short runway. The facility opened in 1945 (1945) and was formerly known as Kokchetav-Trofimovka Airport, Trofimovka (now Kaindy) was the name of the neighbouring village and Kokshetau was known as Kokchetav at the time. It was renamed Kokshetau Airport in 1993; "International" was added to the name in 2013. In 1960, Aeroflot was flying daily Ilyushin Il-12 jet service on a round trip routing of Alma-Ata (now Almaty) – Balkhash – Karaganda – Akmolinsk (now Nur-Sultan) – Kokchetav (now Kokshetau) – Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).[3]

Also in 1963/4, Aeroflot was operating 761 service on a round trip routing of Karaganda – Tselinograd (now Nur-Sultan) – Kokchetav – Kustanai (now Kostanay) – Chelyabinsk – Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) with Lisunov Li-2 aircraft. Aeroflot served the airport during the mid 1964s with Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft flying a routing of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) – Kurgan – Petropavlovsk (now Petropavl) – Kokchetav – Tselinograd – Karaganda – Alma-Ata. In 1961, Aeroflot had service to Moscow via stops at Petropavlovsk, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Kazan flying an Ilyushin Il-14 (with total flight time of about 15 hrs.).[4] In the early 1980s, the airfield was one of the reserve landing sites for the reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system Buran.

Kokshetau Airport served as a hub for Air Kokshetau from 2002 to 2008. In 2004, Aero Flight, a German airline, was operating international non-stop seasonal service between June and August from Frankfurt (IATA: FRA), Germany to Kokshetau.[5] In 2010, the airport underwent major reconstruction, including reconstruction of the passenger terminal building and modernization of the runway. Renovation and modernization of the airport was completed in 2013. The new passenger terminal opened on October 21, 2013 and was also granted an international status.[6]

The first new airline to start international scheduled flights after the comprehensive reconstruction of the runway and passenger terminal from Kokshetau was Transaero operating Boeing 737-700 jets between Kokshetau and Moscow—Vnukovo (IATA: VKO), Russia.[5] This flight was discontinued for summer 2016 season, as Transaero filed for bankruptcy. In 2017, as a consequence of the collapse of Transaero, S7 Airlines resumed nonstop flights to Moscow and operated a flight between Kokshetau and Moscow—Domodedovo (IATA: DME), Russia, using the Airbus A319-100 narrow body jetliners once a week for summer season.[7] This lasted until September 2018, when S7 Airlines cancelled the flight.[8] In late-May 2019, IrAero resumed summer season service to Moscow and operated a flight to Moscow—Zhukovsky (IATA: ZIA), Russia on the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft [9] On 12 March 2020, FlyArystan launched 3 weekly flights to its hub at Almaty using Airbus A320-200 aircraft.[10]

The airport resides at an elevation of 271 m (889 ft) above mean sea level. The airport has a single active runway in use designated 02/20 with an asphalt/concrete surface measuring 2,850 m × 45 m (9,350 ft × 148 ft). The airport is equipped with a Category I (both directions) Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to guide landing aircraft safely under very poor weather conditions and also allowing planes to land in low visibility conditions, such as fog. The airport is able to accommodate jets the size of the Il-76, Boeing 747. It can also accept light aircraft and helicopters of all types. However, smaller jets like the Airbus A319-100, Airbus A320-200, Boeing 737-500 and CRJ-200 are more commonly seen there.[2]

Today the airport is mainly served by subsidized inter-republican air flights operated by SCAT Airlines with CRJ-200 regional jet aircraft flying non-stop[14]

1. Aktau – Kokshetau – Aktau
2. Almaty – Kokshetau – Almaty

FlyArystan operates three weekly flights to Almaty using Airbus A320-200 aircraft. IrAero flies once per week during the summer season to Moscow.

The following airlines operate regular scheduled services to and from Kokshetau:[15]

Historic airlines and destinations include:

In the past, the airport has been served by Aero Flight, Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, Asia Wings, Air Kokshetau (also known as Kokshetau Airlines), Semeyavia (also known as SA Regional Airlines), S7 Airlines, and Transaero.

Due to the low passenger capacity in the region, the airport could not be continuously operated at a profit.

In 2018, it served 21,427 passengers, a decrease of 2.3% compared to 2017, making it the seventeenth-busiest airport in Kazakhstan.

Annual passenger traffic:
Year	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Passengers handled a	2 353	7 401	3 064	17 497	14 213	22 016	21 427
Passengers handled % change	010.1 %	0214.5 %	058.6 %	0471.1 %	018.8 %	015.6 %	02.7 %
Place in Kazakhstan	19	19	19	17	17	17	17
Sources: [17]

No. 18 municipal bus line connects the airport with the city centre of Kokshetau. Service is available from 06:00 to 22:00 and run from the airport (just outside the airport) to the city center and vice versa with intermediate stops in between. The single fare is 150.

Ground public transportation
Route	Route Description	Interval	Stops[18]	Service Notes
No. 18	Abay St., Auelbekov St., Gorky St., Road A-343, Road A-13	30-70 minutes	Railway Station, Privokzal'naya, Mira, Alatau, Central Market, Burabay, Radiozavod, Yubileynyy, Zvonochek, Vasil'kovskiy, Airport	* No late night service

• From Kokshetau main access is by A13 Motorway;
• From Burabay by A1 Motorway;
• From Zerenda by R-214 Motorway.

The airport is located on the () National Road A13, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the city center and about 20 minutes drive, depending on traffic. There is extensive car and motorcycle parking space available. Taxis are also available directly outside the terminal building at the airport parking lot ( Yandex.Taxi and inDriver). Many taxi companies offer a flat-rate for to/from Airport trips (the rate is usually 1,500), booked via mobile app.