Şymkent International Airport (Kazakh: Halyqaralyq Şymkent Äuejaiy) (IATA: CIT, ICAO: UAII) is an international airport serving Şymkent, Kazakhstan. It has a single passenger terminal and one runway. It serves as the main hub for SCAT Airlines, handling a large part of the airline's flights.
History
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: the agreement with France is phrased in the present and future tenses, but it happened in 2012. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2021)
The airport was established on an agricultural airbase constructed in 1932. The airport started managing both passenger and freight traffic in 1933. The runway and passenger terminal of the airport were completed in 1967 after the airport was relocated to its current position in 1963.
Following the signing of an agreement in November 2012 by the governments of France and Kazakhstan, Şymkent Airport was made available to French personnel retreating from Afghanistan. After arriving on French aircraft, military weaponry was carried from the airport by train to Europe. In order to guarantee the transshipment operations at Şymkent Airport, France must provide the funding for the construction of the infrastructure required for the temporary bond storage and the space needed for stricter customs checks. Additionally, it paid for the purchase or rental of loading vehicles. to accelerate wagon loading, construction of a 400 m (1,300 ft) of hard surface road, and the protection of freight in temporary storage and during transportation on Kazakhstan's railroad.
The airport experienced a %20 increase in passenger traffic, rising from 440,000 passengers in 2014 to 520,000 passengers in 2017.[2][clarification needed]
1996 Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision: on November 12, 1996, Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907, an IL-76TD which took off from Şymkent International Airport collided with Saudia Flight 763, a Boeing 747 which took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport, in the air over Charkhi Dadri, Haryana, India. All 289 passengers and 23 crew on Flight 763 and all 27 passengers and 10 crew on Flight 1907 were killed. A total of 349 people died, making it the deadliest ever mid-air collision involving two aircraft.
