Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Issyk-Kul International Airport (ICAO UCFL, IATA IKU) lies near the village of Tamchy on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul Region, a vast saline mountain lake ringed by the Tian Shan. For the simulator pilot it offers a single, exceptionally long ILS-equipped runway set at high elevation amid dramatic alpine scenery, making it a striking destination for both airliner and general-aviation operations in Central Asia.
Issyk-Kul International Airport, identified as UCFL (IATA: IKU), serves the Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan from a site near the lakeside village of Tamchy on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. It is classified as a large airport with scheduled airline service, and its single, unusually long instrument runway makes it a notable high-altitude field for sim pilots exploring Central Asia, set against the backdrop of the Tian Shan mountains that enclose the lake on both sides.
The airfield sits on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, one of the world's largest high-altitude lakes, within Issyk-Kul Region in eastern Kyrgyzstan. The region is bounded by the Kungey Ala-Too range immediately to the north of the lake and the Teskey Ala-Too range along its southern shore, with the regional capital Karakol near the lake's eastern end and the town of Balykchy at its western end; the resort town of Cholpon-Ata lies along the same northern shore. Issyk-Kul International Airport and Karakol International Airport are the two airports that link the region with Almaty in neighbouring Kazakhstan, with Cholpon-Ata and Tamga airports in the region having no regular flights.
The field has a single physical runway, 07/25, oriented broadly east-west. Runway 07 measures 12,412 feet and Runway 25 measures 12,411 feet, both on a hard surface and both equipped with ILS, giving the field one of the longest instrument-approach runways in the region and ample margin for high-altitude operations.
The tower callsign is Ysykkul Tower, working on 118.7 MHz. An ILS is available for the 07/25 runway, supporting instrument approaches to either threshold.
No published circuit heights or joining procedures are available for this field. Pilots should nonetheless bear in mind the airfield's high elevation of 5,417 feet and its location within a mountain-ringed basin, which affects aircraft performance and demands careful attention to terrain on both the northern and southern sides of the lake.
Lake Issyk-Kul itself, stretching well over 100 miles in length, is the dominant visual feature for any approach to the airfield and is unmistakable from altitude. The village of Tamchy adjacent to the airport, the resort town of Cholpon-Ata further along the northern shore, and the flanking ridgelines of the Kungey Ala-Too to the north and the Teskey Ala-Too across the lake to the south all serve as useful references for locating and orienting toward the field.
Issyk-Kul International Airport is designated a large airport with scheduled airline service, functioning alongside Karakol International Airport as one of the two air links connecting the Issyk-Kul Region with Almaty in Kazakhstan.