An airdrome complex in the town of Kerki, Lebap velayat is scheduled to welcome its first airplanes in April 2021. Under the contract between Türkmenhowaýollary Agency and Gundogdy, a private building contractor, the airport will be located nearby the town’s railway station and the Turkmenabat-Kerki highway.
Gundogdy, the tender winner and a member of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, has considerable experience in building civil aviation facilities.Last February, the private company successfully completed a turn-key international airport project in the city of Turkmenabat, Lebap velayat’s administrative center.
Its portfolio features important social projects: a library in Balkanabat, a stadium in Serdar, a complex of residential buildings in Avaza, monuments in Turkmenbashi, among others.
Kerki Airport will be the fourth infrastructure facility built under the National Civil Aviation Development Program of Turkmenistan for 2012-2030, which aims at the construction of new airports, refurbishment of the sector’s existing facilities and services.
The Kerki airport project dovetails nicely with development prospects of the region that boasts vast industrial and logistics potential. The transport hub to be created in Lebap velayat will enable the civil aviation sector to expand its capability in international and domestic operations.
The project envisages the construction of a passenger terminal (with a handling capacity of 100 passengers per hour) that will cover an area of over 200 hectares. The terminal’s high-tech facilities and operational performance just as those of the airport complex will be able to meet high world standards.
Builders will provide everything necessary to offer passengers maximum comfort while they wait for their flight, and to make check-in and flight boarding processes smoother and faster.At their disposal will be a 120-seat waiting lounge, 2 ticket offices, first aid room, international communications center, baggage room, postal facility, cafeteria, VIP lounge, mother-and-child room, 30-seat canteen.
Staff will take elevators to access an air traffic control tower.
A 2,700-meter-long and 45-meter-wide runway will be fitted with modern ground aids (ICAO Category I) signaling, meteorological, navigation and radio equipment manufactured by Thales Group to ensure safe landing and taking off for Boeing 737 NG aircraft day and night.
The airport will boast a taxiway, aircraft and car parking areas, ground handling facilities, a boiler room, transformer substation and other facilities. The area adjacent to the airport will be landscaped and well-tended.
Once operational, the new airport will facilitate dynamic development of the country’s richest region and will boost trade-economic, humanitarian relations and tourism.