Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Ashgabat International Airport is the principal gateway to Turkmenistan, sitting within the city limits of the capital and serving as the hub for Turkmenistan Airlines. Rebuilt and reopened in 2016 with a distinctive falcon-shaped terminal, it offers two long parallel hard-surface runways, one equipped with an ILS, making it well suited to both wide-body international traffic and general aviation movements passing through Central Asian airspace.
Ashgabat International Airport (ICAO: UTAA, IATA: ASB) is Turkmenistan's main international airport and the hub for the national carrier, Turkmenistan Airlines. It lies within the city limits of Ashgabat, in the Bagtyýarlyk district, and also serves the nearby settlements of Arkadag and Änew. For a visiting VFR or IFR simulator pilot, the field is notable for its unusually long parallel runways, its falcon-shaped terminal completed in 2016, and its role as the primary air link into a country that sees relatively little international general aviation traffic.
The airport is located within the administrative boundary of Ashgabat, close to the city centre, placing arriving and departing traffic directly over or near the capital. No specific airspace classification, controlled airspace boundaries, or neighbouring aerodromes are detailed in the available material, so pilots should cross-check current charts for the applicable FIR and any controlled airspace steps around the field.
Ashgabat has two physical runways, both orientated 11/29. The main runway, 11L/29R, is 12,398-12,399 feet long, has a hard surface, is lit, and is equipped with an ILS. The parallel runway, 11R/29L, is 9,765 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, but without a published ILS. Field elevation is 679 feet.
Radio services at Ashgabat include an approach frequency (APP) on 123.5 MHz, a ground-controlled approach (GCA) frequency on 118.7 MHz, an approach/ground (APP GND) frequency on 121.7 MHz, and a tower (TWR) frequency on 120 MHz. The main runway, 11L/29R, is served by an ILS, supporting instrument approaches into the field.
Civil aviation in Turkmenistan traces back to 1927, when air links were first established between Çärjew and Daşhowuz using Junkers F.13 and Kalinin K-4 aircraft; the first airport building in Ashgabat itself was constructed in 1932. Two air units were formed there at the end of 1934, one flying Po-2 agricultural aircraft and the other TB-3 cargo aircraft, and the Ashgabat-Daşhowuz route opened in 1935. Through the Soviet period the fleet grew to include Li-2, Il-12, Il-14, An-2, Yak-12 and later Tu-104, Tu-114, Il-18, An-24, Tu-154, Yak-40 and Yak-42 types, with the airport used exclusively for domestic Soviet flights. A modern terminal opened in 1994, named after Turkmenistan's first president, Saparmyrat Nyýazow, with a capacity of 1,600 passengers per hour; it featured a 3,700-metre precision-approach runway. As part of Nyýazow's ambition to remake Turkmenistan as
Following an international tender won by the Turkish contractor Polimeks, the airport was rebuilt under the
