Ashgabat Airport

Ashgabat International Airport Saparmyrat Türkmenbaşy halkara aeroporty
IATA: ASB ICAO: UTAA
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Turkmenistan
Operator	Turkmenistan Airlines
Location	Ashgabat
Elevation AMSL	692 ft / 211 m
Coordinates	37°59′13″N 58°21′39″E / 37.98694°N 58.36083°E / 37.98694; 58.36083Coordinates: 37°59′13″N 58°21′39″E / 37.98694°N 58.36083°E / 37.98694; 58.36083
Website	www.ashgabatairport.com
Map
ASB Location of airport in Turkmenistan
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 12L/30R 12,467 3,800 Concrete 12R/30L 9,806 2,989 Concrete 11/29 2,953 900 Asphalt
Source: AIP Turkmenistan

Ashgabat International Airport (IATA: ASB, ICAO: UTAA), formerly known as Saparmurat Türkmenbaşy International Airport, is one of three international airports in Turkmenistan. It is located approximately 10 km (6 mi) northwest of the capital Ashgabat (Ashkhabad). The old airport, with its air traffic control tower and a 12,000-foot (3,700 m) long precision approach runway (12L-30R), opened in 1994 and was named after the country's first president, Saparmyrat Niyazov. The new airport opened in 2016 after being completely redesigned and rebuilt.

The airport building opened in 1994 and the terminal has a capacity of 1,600 passengers per hour. In Soviet times, the airport was used exclusively for domestic flights. Currently, the airport serves a number of foreign airlines, operating for both passengers and cargo.

As part of Saparmurat Niyazov's aspiration to transform Turkmenistan into 'the new Kuwait', he sought to construct a distinctive airport. This zeal resulted in the control tower being constructed on the wrong side of the runway. The 'gaudy new terminal' now blocked the view of air traffic controllers as they guided pilots. The builders warned him of this, however, he responded that, "It looks better this way."

The Turkmen government opened an international tender in 2012 for the construction of a new international airport in Ashgabat, to be named "Oguz Han". Polimeks, a Turkish construction company active in Turkmenistan since the late-1990s, was declared as the winner of the tender. The new airport was opened on 17 September 2016 by the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The project costed $2.3 billion (€1.7 billion) and featured a highly unusual terminal design featuring a Turkmen bird. The new airport is able to serve 14 million passengers per year. It has the capacity to handle 1,600 passengers per hour. The airport has a closed-area of 350,000 m² and include a passenger terminal, VIP terminal, cargo terminal with a capacity to handle 200,000 tonnes of freight per year, a new air traffic control tower (ATCT), a maintenance hangar for three narrow-body aircraft, new fuelling stations, catering, fire brigade, flight simulation, repair and maintenance buildings, parking space for 3.000 cars, a civil aviation school as well as a medical center. The airport has also a new 3,800m long runway to serve wide-body, double-deck jet airliners such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8.