[7] It is located in the Esil administrative subdivision of Astana, 6.5 NM (12.0 km; 7.5 mi) south-east[8] of the city centre.

[9] It serves as the secondary large hub for the national flag carrier of Kazakhstan – Air Astana, including its low-cost subsidiary – FlyArystan, the homebase for Qazaq Air, and is the primary operating base for SCAT Airlines and was also formerly a hub for Starlines Kazakhstan and Tselinograd OAO.

Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport is 6.5 NM (12.0 km; 7.5 mi) south-east of Astana city centre.

[16] It is bordered by the village of Kyzylsuat to the west, Maybalyk lake to the north, and the city of Qosshy in Akmola Region to the east.

There was a square field for aircraft take-off and landing, an adobe 8-room station with a small waiting hall, a two-room house for pilots, and fuel storage on the airport grounds.

In the first few years, the air traffic was ad-hoc by character, with loose timetables, such as "Aircraft departure on Monday morning" or "On Wednesday at sunrise".

[24][25] Airdrome reconstruction begun and finished in a relatively short time: the runway with artificial covering was extended for about 3500 meters; the taxiway and apron were also expanded by April 1998.

The airport is the secondary hub of Air Astana, the Republic of Kazakhstan's flag carrier, as well as FlyArystan, a low-cost airline established in 2018.

[33] In 2020, the airport established itself as a prominent transit hub for humanitarian and cargo flights originating from Southeast Asia and heading towards Europe.

[citation needed] In 1995, Transaero conducted its inaugural flight on the Astana-Moscow route, connecting the then-capital Akmola with the Russian capital.

Starting from 26 March 2006, Lufthansa has been offering three weekly intercontinental long-haul flights from Astana to Frankfurt Airport (IATA: FRA), the major business hub in Germany.

[40] In May 2009, Etihad Airways inaugurated nonstop service from Astana to Abu Dhabi International Airport, UAE.

[46] On 3 May 2016, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines launched twice weekly intercontinental long-haul flights to its hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (IATA: AMS) using Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

[70] Both terminals are adjacent and directly linked by a walkway, sharing a single car park and have a connecting corridor for transit passengers.

The Border Service of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan maintain control points for arriving and departing passengers.

The central concourse is situated in a dome 45m in diameter and 36m in height, based on the shape of a traditional Kazakhstan moveable house called a ‘Yurt’.

The building has five floors, panoramic elevators, escalators, aerobridges, lounges and the system of automatic check-in for passengers, airport shops, restaurants, cafes, a pharmacy, a call-center and other facilities.

There are airside connectors at NQZ that enable passengers to move between adjacent terminal buildings while staying within the secure area.

The following airlines maintain hub or base operations at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport: Passenger numbers have been growing rapidly since 2000, but especially since 2007.

[121] At 40 metres (130 ft), the air traffic control tower (ATCT), designed by Pacific Consultants International (now Oriental Consultants) is the second highest in the country (only surpassed by Almaty International Airport, currently the tallest standalone tower at any Kazakhstan airport, at 45 metres (150 ft)).

On 30 November 2010, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the airport for a summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) with Boeing C-32.

[124][125] On 13 September 2022, the head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis visited Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport from Rome, where he was met by Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

[126][127] In November 2023, the President of France Emmanuel Macron visited Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport with his Airbus A330-200 (Cotam 001).

The Astana VIP Private Terminal, opened in 2017, features 32,300 m2 (348,000 sq ft) area and can handle 200 passengers an hour.

[131] The terminal building housed a lounge bar, a conference hall, rooms for negotiations, convenience for passengers with children, a duty-free shop, there are 52 parking spaces for guests.

[20] The inflight catering complex at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport features a single, one-storey building that meets all international requirements imposed by air catering sphere and is capable of producing up to 10,000 flight-packaged meals a day, with an area measuring 3,500 square metres (38,000 sq ft).

[134] On 23 November 2020 the airport was granted the RA-3 certificate (Regulated Agents Third country), a crucial requirement for facilitating the streamlined organisation of air cargo transport to the European Union.

In 2018, Air Astana established and commissioned a heavy maintenance centre at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport.

The airport is located on the Regional Road P3, about 16.7 kilometers (12 mi) from the city center and about 25 minutes drive, depending on traffic.

The first stage of the proposed Astana Light Rail Transit (LRT) project features the construction of 22.6-kilometre light rail line that will connect the airport and Astana-Nurly Zhol station with 19 trains passing through the city’s 18 main sites, including Nazarbayev University, Abu Dhabi Plaza near the Baiterek Tower, and House of Ministries.