Nukus Airport

Nukus Airport (Karakalpakstan Nókis Aeroportı; Uzbek: Nukus xalqaro aeroporti) (IATA: NCU, ICAO: UTNN) is the international airport of the city of the same name in northwestern Uzbekistan, the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan.

Artificial (asphalt concrete) The airfield's runway, built in the 1960s, was 1,900 m long (now it is used as a taxiway).

In the early 1980s, a new concrete runway with a length of 2,500 m was built parallel to the old runway, and in the early 1990s it was extended to 3,000 m, which made it possible to receive wide-body Il-86 aircraft. Nukus airfield has been a backup airfield in the Aral Sea region since Soviet times.

From the 1960s to the early 1990s, passenger flights were operated from the airport by AN-2 aircraft on local air lines (in particular, to the points of Muinak, Kungrad, Urgench, Takhtakupyr, Kazakhdarya, Aspantai, Tuley).

During the Soviet period, the Nukus airfield was also used as a military airfield. The 287th separate test Aviation squadron was based here, military unit 22581 (An—26 aircraft, Mi-8 helicopters), which was used to provide the Eighth Chemical Protection Station military training ground, which operated on the Ustyurt plateau in the vicinity of the village of Jaslyk. In 1993, the squadron was withdrawn to the Russian Federation at the Bagai-Baranovka airfield [source not specified 349 days]. Until the early 1990s, the 162nd flight detachment of the Uzbek Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation (An-2 and Yak-40 aircraft) was based at the Nukus airfield[source not specified for 349 days].

In 2005, a new terminal was built at the airport [3], and modern lighting equipment was installed in 2006-2007.

On June 20, 2011, a large-scale reconstruction of the runway began. Within 110 days, an asphalt concrete pavement was laid on a 3,000 m long section. In addition to runway reconstruction, the airport underwent major repairs to the apron and aircraft parking areas. The capacity of the terminal is 200 people/hour. The airport complex consists of two terminals, which include halls for servicing departing and arriving passengers, baggage handling, mail and cargo of international and local destinations.

As of 2014, a number of An-2 aircraft used for aviation operations in Karakalpakstan are based at the Nukus airfield.

On July 11, 2018, the renovated passenger terminal of the international airport "Nukus" began operation. The terminal now has a capacity of 400 passengers per hour. The head of the airport's passenger transportation service, Konysbai Nuratdinov, announced plans to open flights to Almaty and Aktau by the Kazakh airline Scat Airlines, as well as possible scheduled flights to Moscow by Ural Airlines.

From October 1, 2019, the "open skies" mode will be introduced at the Nukus Airport, which allows accepting international charter flights without restrictions.