BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct.1
Trend:
Kazakhstan’s Ust-Kamenogorsk airport resumed its work on October 1 after five months of large-scale reconstruction, Trend reports citing Kazinform via the East Kazakhstan information center.
On the first day of reopening, planes flew from the Ust-Kamenogorsk, central city of East Kazakhstan region, to Nur-Sultan and Almaty cities.
Since May of this year, the Ust-Kamenogorsk airport had been closed due to the overhaul of the runway within the Nurly Zhol state program [for the country’s infrastructural development]. Work was carried out to lengthen and widen the runway.
“The contractors completely replaced the asphalt concrete pavement on the runway and carried out work to increase it. Now the length is 2,800 meters and the width is 60 meters,” said Nikolay Korolenko, President of Ust-Kamenogorsk Airport JSC. “Such parameters will allow the airport to accept large-size international flights. It is important that a new modern system of lighting equipment has been installed on the runway."
Previously, such large-scale work was carried out in the air harbor of the regional center in 1996, so reconstruction was a requirement of the time. All work was assessed by a special commission, which included specialists from the Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstan.
From September 15 to September 21, a flight check of the systems of light-signaling and aeronautical equipment was carried out. At present, the Ust-Kamenogorsk airport is fully ready for operation. Currently, flights of Air Astana, SCAT and Qazaq Air airlines are resumed in three directions - Nur-Sultan, Almaty and Karaganda. In the near future, it’s planned to increase the number of destinations and the number of airlines operating flights to and from the regional center.
To increase the cargo potential of the airport, this year it is planned to complete the construction of a cargo terminal with a capacity of 30 tons and a temporary storage warehouse with a capacity of 100 tons. Such measures will improve throughput and enable the development of air cargo transportation.