ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan on September 17 opened a new $2.3 billion air terminal at Ashgabat International Airport as the country tries to become an international transport hub in Central Asia, RFE/RL reported.
Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said during the opening ceremony that Turkmenistan has “all the opportunities to become a transport bridge facilitating economic cooperation between Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, and South Asia.”
The Ashgabat International Airport, the largest in Central Asia, occupies almost 1,200 hectares and includes more than 100 facilities, the State News Agency of Turkmenistan reported.
The total area of the main building of the terminal with capacity of 14 million passengers per year is more than 190 thousand square meters. Together with the second terminal for 3 million passengers, the Airport will now be able to serve more than 17 million passengers per year or around 2 thousand passengers per hour. More than 200 thousand tons of cargo will be able to transit via the cargo terminal.
The new airport has two airstrips with all the necessary infrastructure and a total length of 3,800 meters. The airport’s air traffic control service has been provided with the latest navigation equipment. The airport is able to receive planes of any types and cargo capacity, providing the service at international level.
Ashgabat will host the Asian Indoor Games in 2017, and the number of flights including for passengers from the Asian region is expected to increase.
The number of passport control stands has been reduced due to a new e-gate. Duty-free shops, 27 food shops with three of them in the business-lunch format, are located in the International flights sector. The airport also has all conditions for disabled people.
