Frunze Airport

The airport was closed due to obsolescence and urban encroachment. The primary reason was the opening of the new, much larger Manas International Airport in 1974, which was built to accommodate modern, heavy jet aircraft like the Ilyushin Il-62. The old Frunze Airport's runway was too short and its facilities were inadequate for the growing air traffic and larger planes of the era. Furthermore, as the city of Frunze (now Bishkek) expanded, the airport became surrounded by residential areas, posing significant safety and noise concerns, and making any potential expansion impossible. All remaining flight operations were systematically transferred to Manas, leading to the old airport's final closure in the early 1980s.

The site of the former Frunze Airport has been completely redeveloped and is now an integral part of the urban landscape of southern Bishkek. There are no visible remnants of the airport infrastructure like runways, taxiways, or terminals. The land is now occupied by several residential microdistricts, most notably the 'Asanbay' and '12th' microdistricts. The area features numerous apartment buildings, schools, shops, and a large public park named Asanbay Park. Major city streets, including Sukhe-Bator and Toktonaliev, now traverse the former airfield.

This was the original and principal airport for Frunze, the capital of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. Opened in the 1930s (with the first regular passenger flight from Tashkent in 1933), it was the primary gateway to the region for decades. It served as the base for the local division of Aeroflot, the Soviet state airline. The airport handled a wide range of domestic flights within the USSR and local services across Kyrgyzstan. Operations primarily involved Soviet-era propeller and early jet aircraft, such as the Lisunov Li-2, Ilyushin Il-14, Ilyushin Il-18, Antonov An-24, and the Yakovlev Yak-40. It was the central hub for all passenger, mail, and cargo air transport for the capital until the construction of Manas Airport.

There are zero prospects for reopening this airport. The land has been fully and irreversibly re-purposed for dense urban development. The city of Bishkek is comprehensively served by Manas International Airport (IATA: FRU, ICAO: UCFM), which is located approximately 25 kilometers northwest of the city and functions as Kyrgyzstan's main international and domestic air hub.