The airport is located 8.1 NM (15.0 km; 9.3 mi) north-east[2] from the centre of Kokshetau, the capital of Akmola Region in the northern part of Kazakhstan.

In 1960, Aeroflot was flying daily Ilyushin Il-12 jet service on a round trip routing of Alma-Ata (now Almaty) – Balkhash – Karaganda – Akmolinsk (now Astana) – Kokchetav (now Kokshetau) – Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).

[4] Also in 1963/1964, Aeroflot was operating 761 service on a round trip routing of Karaganda – Tselinograd (now Astana) – Kokchetav – Kustanai (now Kostanay) – Chelyabinsk – Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) with Lisunov Li-2 aircraft.

Aeroflot served the airport during the mid 1964s with Ilyushin Il-14 aircraft flying a routing of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) – Kurgan – Petropavlovsk (now Petropavl) – Kokchetav – Tselinograd – Karaganda – Alma-Ata.

In 1961, Aeroflot had service to Moscow via stops at Petropavlovsk, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Kazan flying an Ilyushin Il-14 (with total flight time of about 15 hrs.).

[5] In the early 1980s, the airfield was one of the reserve landing sites for the reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system Buran.

In 2004, Aero Flight, a German airline, was operating international non-stop seasonal service between June and August from Frankfurt (IATA: FRA), Germany to Kokshetau.

[12] On 22 July 2021, SCAT Airlines introduced thrice-weekly subsidized inter-republican air services to Hazret Sultan International Airport in Turkistan Region.

The main passenger terminal building was built in 1945; 80 years ago (1945), and has been expanded as well as upgraded to modern standards by undergoing comprehensive renovation since its original construction.

The opening ceremony of the upgraded passenger terminal took place on October 21, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-10-21), with an area measuring 8,552 square metres (92,050 sq ft).

[3] The first international commercial flight to depart at the new passenger terminal was UN224 to Moscow, Russia at 08:00 am (UTC+6), December 14, 2013, operated by the Russian carrier Transaero.

[16] On 25 August 1972, the Soviet party chief Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev visited Kokchetav Airport, where he was met by Dinmukhamed Kunaev.

On 28 May 1991, the president Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev visited Kokchetav Airport to assess the agricultural harvest in the former 'Virgin Lands'.

[17] In October 2015, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin visited Kokshetau International Airport with a couple of large jet airplanes.

The Kazakhstani Government approved major renovation and refurbishment works to the air-terminal complex as well as a runway expansion project worth 8.3 billion tenge (US$56,290,000).

The airport is located on the () National Road A13, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the city center and about 20 minutes drive, depending on traffic.