Shymkent International Airport guide

Shymkent International Airport serves southern Kazakhstan from a site northwest of the city centre. It sits on an agricultural airbase built in 1932, and the current runway and original passenger terminal date from 1967. A single concrete runway, 10/28, is 3,300 metres long.

Traffic has grown quickly. The airport handled about 2.2 million passengers in 2024, up 18% on the year before, and roughly 1.5 million in the first nine months of 2025. A new passenger terminal of about 39,000 square metres opened in late 2024 and is designed for up to 2,000 passengers an hour.

SCAT Airlines is the dominant carrier and uses Shymkent as its main hub. Airlines are moving into the new terminal in phases. Air Astana transferred all of its domestic and international flights there on 27 May 2025. Routes reach Astana, Almaty, Dubai, Istanbul and Baku, with newer services to China, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Egypt.