Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (UACC) is the principal gateway to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and the country's second-busiest airport by traffic. It sits within the city limits on the left bank of the Ishim river, serving as a hub for Air Astana and FlyArystan and as the home base for Qazaq Air and SCAT Airlines. For a simulator pilot it offers a single very long, ILS-equipped runway and a full radar and tower service typical of a major international field.
UACC is the primary airport for Astana, Kazakhstan's capital, and ranks as the second-busiest airport in the country. It is operated by the state-owned JSC "Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport", which also runs Kokshetau Airport in Akmola Region. The field is a major hub for national carrier Air Astana and its low-cost arm FlyArystan, is the home base of Qazaq Air, and serves as the primary operating base for SCAT Airlines. Its domestic terminal, built between 2000 and 2005, was designed by the noted Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. For anyone flying in on the simulator, the airport's scale and long single runway make it a natural stop for airliner operations into the Kazakh capital.
The airport lies inside the city limits of Astana, in the Esil District on the left bank, about 6.5 nautical miles (12 kilometres) south-east of the city centre. It is bordered by the village of Kyzylsuat to the west, Maybalyk lake to the north, and the town of Qosshy in Akmola Region to the east. As a major international airport it sits within controlled airspace served by its own approach and radar facilities.
UACC has a single physical runway, 04/22, oriented north-east/south-west. It is roughly 11,476 ft (04) and 11,475 ft (22) long, hard-surfaced, lit, and served by an ILS on both approach directions, giving a very long paved strip suitable for the largest airliner types.
Pilots can expect the following services and frequencies: Approach (APP) on 124.6 MHz, ATIS on 128.3 MHz, Radar (RDR) on 120.7 MHz, and Tower (TWR) on 118.7 MHz. The runway is equipped with an ILS on both 04 and 22, supporting instrument approaches to the field.
The airfield's origins date to 1930, when a simple square landing ground was established about three kilometres from Akmolinsk (now Astana), close to the site of today's Baiterek tower; it comprised an adobe eight-room station, a small waiting hall, a two-room pilots' house, and fuel storage. The first proper airfield was built on the outskirts of the town in December 1931 and was developed further after the Second World War. Early air services linked Semipalatinsk and Akmolinsk, with flights in the 1930s operated by Kalinin K-4, Kalinin K-5, Polikarpov R-5 and Petlyakov Pe-2 aircraft; the aerodrome was prone to closure during river flooding, and communication with the city depended on telephone, ferry and footpath before a bridge was built over the Ishim. Regular scheduled routes were established in 1934, connecting Alma-Ata, Karaganda, Akmolinsk, Atbasar, Kostanay and Sverdlovsk, and separately Karaganda, Petropavlovsk, Korgalzhyn and Akmolinsk. As the city was renamed over the decades the airport followed suit, becoming Tselinograd Airport and later Astana International Airport. The present terminal complex was built between 2000 and 2005, with the domestic terminal designed by Kisho Kurokawa. In June 2017 the Kazakhstan government renamed the airport in honour of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, under whose presidency the modern airport was constructed and inaugurated, and in June 2020 its IATA code changed from TSE to NQZ.
Today the airport functions as a major international hub, handling over 200 departures a day and more than eight million passengers in 2024, making it the second-busiest airport in Kazakhstan. It serves as a hub for Air Astana and FlyArystan, the home base for Qazaq Air, and the primary operating base for SCAT Airlines, with year-round non-stop services across Kazakhstan and to Central Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Europe, Russia and China. The airport comprises two passenger terminals alongside cargo and maintenance facilities, and was recognised as the Best Regional Airport in Central Asia and CIS at the Skytrax World Airport Awards in 2022.