Manas International Airport
Ganci Air Base / Manas Air Base
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
On February 19, 2009, Kyrgyzstan's parliament approved, by a vote of 78-1 and 2 abstentions, to cancel the US' lease on Manas Air Base.
In February 2009, the Kyrgyz President declared that the United States would be asked to leave Manas Air Base as a result of disputes concerning compensation for the use of the facility. The United States said it hoped to retain use of the facility, but that its loss would not disrupt operations in Afghanistan. On 9 February 2009, the Kyrgyz Parliamentary Defense and Security Committee approved the move to terminate the agreement with the United States for use of Manas Air Base, a first step in formal termiantion of the agreement.
Manas, the international airport at Bishkek (named after the mythical national hero), was modernized in 1988 to make it the most modern commercial airport in Central Asia. A second international facility was located at Osh, and about 25 usable local fields supplement civil air service. Manas International Airport had about 5 commercial flights per day.
Manas has a 13,800-foot long runway, built for Soviet bombers. There was room for 4 C-17 or C-5 cargo planes to park along the taxiway. The base lies about 1,500 kilometers from Kandahar, Afghanistan, a 3-hour flight.
In the early 1990s, available air transport facilities were inadequate. The national airline was formed from a share of the aircraft and personnel allocated from the Soviet airline Aeroflot. Manas, the international airport at Bishkek (named after the mythical national hero), was modernized in 1988 to make it the most modern commercial airport in Central Asia. A second international facility is located at Osh, and about twenty-five usable local fields supplement air service. Manas Airport originally offered flights to fifty cities in the CIS, including regular service to Moscow and Tashkent, and charter flights to China, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. However, that facility has been almost unused since 1991. The shortage of jet fuel has forced Kyrgyzstan to rely almost completely on the Almaty international airport, four hours by road from Bishkek, for international connections, and the availability of air transport greatly decreased in the early 1990s. The loss of air services has exacerbated the country's tendency toward a north-south split.
The virtual closure of Manas Airport at Bishkek makes Kazakstan's capital, Almaty, the principal point of entry to Kyrgyzstan. The northwestern city of Talas receives nearly all of its services through the city of Dzhambyl, across the border in Kazakstan. Although Kazakstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev has cooperated in economic agreements, in May 1993 Kyrgyzstan's introduction of the som caused Nazarbayev to close his country's border with Kyrgyzstan to avoid a flood of worthless Kyrgyzstani rubles.
In the early 2000s, international funding upgraded the main airport, Manas, at Bishkek and a smaller facility at Osh. In 2006 Manas was the only one of Kyrgyzstan’s 37 airports with a runway longer than 3,000 meters and the only airport supporting international flights. Smaller airports provide connections among domestic destinations.
In 2001 Kyrgyzstan offered the United States an air base at Manas Airport in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan. Manas Airbase subsequently became an important staging ground for the coalition effort in Afghanistan, both those involved with OEF and subsequently the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The US facility covered 37 acres. It was fenced off by a concrete wall at the top of which coiled razor wire has been placed. Four watchtowers overlooked the facility, which held roughly 300 tents, a fitness room, a chapel, a post office, a recreation room as well as a $5 million, 60-bed military hospital that opened in April 2002, and is manned by South Korean troops.
Fuel for the American and French fighter jets flying out of Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan was initially provided by a firm owned by President Askar Akayev's son-in-law.
The facility was unofficially renamed Ganci Air Base, after Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr, chief of the New York City Fire Department who gave his life during the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Although the US Air Force was renowned for providing for the comfort of its troops, American airmen said Ganci was setting a new standard for comfortable deployments downrange. Compared to the dusty and desertlike temperatures at the tent city at Karshi-Khanabad, also known as K-2, in neighboring Uzbekistan, Ganci was almost like a resort.
The Air Force's 376th Air Expeditionary Wing was been tasked with operating the facility, which also houses troops from South Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Norway and Spain. The 786th Security Forces Squadron was part of the 86th Contingency Response Group from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and its mission was to ensure the safety of coalition forces setting up the Manas airfield. As of June 2002, the 822nd Security Forces out of Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia, were also deployed at Manas.
According to a 8 June 2004 Reuters report, the tents at Manas were being replaced by more permanent structures at a cost of $60 million. At that time, it was estimated that there were about 2,000 American and European troops based at Manas.
