Former Zhezkazgan Airport

Replacement by a new, larger facility. The old airport was rendered obsolete by the construction of the new Zhezkazgan Airport (IATA: DZN, ICAO: UAKD), located about 13 km to the southeast. The new airport was built with a much longer, concrete runway (3,400 meters) capable of handling larger jet aircraft like the Tupolev Tu-154 and Ilyushin Il-76. This upgrade was necessary to better support the expanding needs of the region's massive copper mining industry and, crucially, to serve as a primary base for the Soviet space program's search and recovery operations for Soyuz capsules landing in the Kazakh steppe.

The airport is abandoned and derelict. Satellite imagery of the coordinates (47.769244, 67.67385) clearly shows the decaying remnants of its runway and taxiway system. The pavement is cracked and overgrown with vegetation. While some of the original building structures may still be standing in a dilapidated state, the airfield itself is completely unusable for aviation. The land is largely unused, with informal dirt tracks crossing the old runway, and it is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding steppe environment. It serves no official purpose.

During the Soviet era, this was the primary airport for the city of Zhezkazgan. Its historical importance is twofold:
1. **Support for the Baikonur Cosmodrome:** The airport was a critical operational base for the search and recovery teams of the Soviet space program. Due to Zhezkazgan's proximity to the prime landing zones for Soyuz space capsules, helicopters (like the Mi-8) and fixed-wing aircraft (like the An-12 and An-26) were staged here to quickly locate and retrieve returning cosmonauts. Many famous cosmonauts passed through this airport upon their return to Earth.
2. **Regional Connectivity:** It served as the main air link for the remote, industrial city, which is a major center for copper mining. The airport handled regional passenger and cargo flights, connecting Zhezkazgan with other cities in the Kazakh SSR and the wider Soviet Union. Operations would have included smaller Soviet-era aircraft such as the Antonov An-2, Ilyushin Il-14, and later the Antonov An-24.

None. There are no known plans or prospects for reopening this former airport. The city of Zhezkazgan is adequately and more effectively served by the modern, operational Zhezkazgan Airport (UAKD/DZN). The old site is obsolete, its infrastructure is beyond repair, and its location is now closer to the expanding city limits than the new airport. Reactivating it would be economically and logistically unfeasible.