Kunduz Airport is located about southeast of

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

(also spelled Konduz), the capital of Kunduz Province in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. It is a domestic airport under the country's Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), and serves the population of Kunduz Province. Security in and around the airport is provided by the Afghan National Security Forces. The airport resides at an elevation of above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value (magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ari ...

. It has one

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

designated 11/29 with an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

surface measuring . A new terminal was added in 2017, which has a capacity of housing up to 1,300 passengers. The entire airport was expanded and updated in recent years but some work remains to be completed.

History

The airport was originally built in 1958 when Afghanistan was ruled by King

Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...

. "Two years later, the airport was further constructed by the United States." During the 1980s, it was used by Afghan and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

forces for military purposes. It was recently used by forces of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Resolute Support Mission Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 Decem ...

. After the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Afghanistan, members of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

took control of Kunduz Airport in August 2021. They captured weaponry and vehicles from the Afghan National Army and Afghan Air Force, including an Mi-35 Hind attack helicopter given to the Afghan Air Force by

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Airlines and destinations

Each week there are two flights between Kunduz Airport and

Kabul International Airport , nativename-r = , image = Flightline at Kabul International Airport.jpeg , caption = The flightline at Kabul International Airport in January 2012 , IATA = KBL , ICAO = OAKB , ...

Kam Air Kam Air is the largest private Afghan airline. Founded in 2003, Kam Air has twelve aircraft and a workforce of over 1,200 people, operating scheduled domestic passenger services throughout Afghanistan and international services to destinations i ...

formerly operates services to Kabul International Airport. All flights from Kunduz Airport were suspended between August 2021 and July 2022.

Incidents

* On 17 May 2010, confirmed reports state that

Pamir Airways Pamir Airways was a privately owned airline headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan, operating scheduled passenger flights out of Kabul International Airport. The company name is derived from the Pamir Mountains and translates "roof of the world". H ...

Flight 112, an

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...

, crashed 100 km away from

. The plane was en route from Kunduz Airport to

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, when it suddenly disappeared from radars. The wreckage was located on 20 May, rescuers reached the site on 21 May. No signs of life were found. * On 28 September 2015, during the Battle of Kunduz, many civilians from the city of Kunduz fled to the airport, which was not taken by the

. According to a government security official, the Taliban had been vastly outnumbered, with only an estimated 500 fighters remaining against about 7,000 government troops and allied militia members. However, local politicians from Kunduz said that the government had failed to provide leadership and support to its fighters in the area. * On 11 August 2021, the news channel Russia Today, reported that the airport was captured by the Taliban. The airport's government forces had outlasted other centres in Kunduz before its capture.

References

External links

* *
Airport record for Kunduz Airport
at Landings.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunduz Airport Airports in Afghanistan Buildings and structures in Kunduz Province Afghanistan–United States relations

History

Airlines and destinations

Incidents

See also

References

External links