Karaganda (KGF): located at just seven hours’ flying time from Shanghai and seven hours to Frankfurt, it offers the perfect stopover, right in the geographical center. A major airport is currently being built there. Or rather, the existing airport is being modernized and greatly expanded. The dimensions are set out in a draft master plan, which includes the development stages and their financing. CargoForwarder Global has exclusive access to this plan.
These are the cornerstones of the new concept: The scheme foresees the gradual development of a variety of new cargo terminals that are directly connected to the aircraft stands on the adjoining apron. In total, the masterplan speaks of 10 warehouses, offering a 100,000 m² frontline with a handling and throughput capacity of one million tons of cargo per year. The cargo terminals are in the frontline of a 350-hectare Special Economic Zone, designed to support logistics distribution functions and (bonded) warehousing. In addition, management has secured space reservations for future growth, tailored to integrators’ requirements, thus offering players hub and gateway functions according to their individual demands.
Eying Multimodality
In line with the projected growth, the runway capacity will be increased by initially adding taxiways and minimizing runway backtracking, and later by adding a second parallel runway. In the final design, runway capacity will allow well over 30-35 aircraft movements per hour. Further to the capacity-related investments, the design includes up to 3 additional MRO facilities, as well as a railway terminal connecting the airport to the transcontinental Eurasian railway system.
“We are developing the airport as per a final, full-scale masterplan. Like any decent scheme, it compromises a phased, carefully considered airport design and capex program. This masterplan was approved by the Board in December 2025,” states Franz van Hessen, Managing Director of the German agency, Air Cargo Consultancy Global GmbH.
Negotiations with potential customers are underway
According to Erlan Ospanov, Co-Owner and Chairman of the Board of Karaganda Airport (IATA: KGF), the cargo business is the centerpiece of the growth strategy. “The geographical location of the place, exactly halfway between Europe and China, is our unique selling point, something money really can’t buy,” Erlan stresses. Negotiations with some airlines and forwarding agents are under way, with some already well advanced, he says, not revealing names for reason of confidentiality since talks are still ongoing. “Some cargo carriers have expressed their interested in utilizing our airport for intermediate stops on route between the Far East and Europe, or the Middle East and the northern part of Africa,” he adds. “We are in talks with major strategic distribution partners, who have huge funds at their disposal.”
Privately financed
The entire project is being financed from commercial sources, as the airport is privately owned, which is a major exception – not only in the greater region of Central Asia. Accordingly, the implementation of the development steps outlined in the masterplan is progressing rapidly, confirms Franz van Hessen of Air Cargo Consultancy Global GmbH. Following the submission of the masterplan, the Board decided to give him a two-year contract to support them in developing the airport and projected Cargo City. The Board recently extended his contract for another 24 months.
However, one disadvantage of the airport is that it lacks a home carrier. This contrasts with Alat Airport, which is currently being built just south of Baku, Azerbaijan, and will have a prominent home carrier in Silkway West Airlines. Karaganda management wants to close this gap as quickly as possible, van Hessen confirms: “Currently, there are talks underway behind the scenes, regarding the set-up of a home carrier. We have an AOC at hand and are in discussion with various potential operators regarding aircraft, network options and the start of operations.”
And Erlan Ospanov stresses: “Having a Kazakh home-based freighter operator is essential for our success.” Further, the executive underlines thatEurasia is home to 5.3 billion people, which has also made Kazakhstan an interesting marketplace for consumer and industrial goods in recent years. This has sparked the interest of foreign investors and prompted airlines to serve the country.
Kazakhstan is increasingly attracting investors
Added to this, is the overarching factor of the geostrategic situation of the Central Asian state bordered by China and Russia, but which insists on its independence and is strengthening its economic ties with the West. This has attracted direct investments from EU-based companies, which are poured into the energy and raw materials sector, but are also increasingly targeting infrastructure projects (Middle Corridor), renewable energies, digitalization, and manufacturing. They are driven by Kazakhstan’s strategic importance for the diversification of European companies’ supply chains, triggered by their China Plus One strategy to minimize dependencies on Beijing.
Growing passenger traffic is also part of KGF’s mid-term vision. The current passenger terminal has an official annual capacity of 3 million travelers, which will suffice to meet the projected growth outlined in the masterplan. However, should demand pick up faster than expected, additional facilities will be erected according to needs.
