Today, a Boeing 737-700 plane, which arrived from Kerki, landed at the International Airport of the city of Turkmenbashi exactly on schedule. This flight opened regular air communication between the city on the left bank of the Amu Darya and the center of the oil refining industry in the western region of the country.
Among the passengers of the airliner, which made the first flight along the new route, there were many who were going on vacation to the Avaza National Tourist Zone, having previously completed a number of necessary procedures to comply with sanitary standards. The flight Kerki-Turkmenbashi (and return) will be operated by Turkmenistan Airlines once a week - on Mondays - on Boeing 737-700 aircraft. Flight time is just over an hour and a half. Today Kerki is one of the actively emerging centers of industrial and transport infrastructure of the Lebap velayat and the whole country.
The construction of the International Airport here significantly expands the possibilities of domestic civil aviation, contributes to the creation of favorable conditions for the development of tourism in the region, and the growth of economic cooperation with foreign countries. Its opening ceremony took place in June 2021. The air harbor built by Turkmen builders has a capacity of 100 people per hour and is capable of simultaneously receiving two large aircraft and four helicopters.
The airport fully meets modern requirements and international standards, primarily in the field of flight safety and a high level of passenger service, which is confirmed by an official ICAO document on assigning a four-letter UTAE location code to it and a Certificate of Compliance with International Standards issued by Munich International Airport. The international airport in the city of Kerki is designed to stimulate the activation of air cargo and passenger traffic both in the eastern region of the country, where a large industrial cluster is developing, and between neighboring countries. In particular, in order to attract foreign airlines, an announcement was recently posted on the airport's official website on the provision of aircraft maintenance services and refueling at the lowest prices in Turkmenistan.
As follows from the text of the publication, free ground handling is provided at Kerki International Airport, with the exception of air navigation, fees for fuel, for a foreign airline making a technical landing when refueling at least 15 tons of fuel. Since January of this year, flights have been carried out from Kerki to Ashgabat and Dashoguz. Now a new direction has been added to the flight schedule - the city of Turkmenbashi.
