The airport was founded in 1935. Up to 1990 it was the part of Kazakh Department of Civil Aviation. On April 26, 1991 the airport had been re-organized into "Alma-Ata Airport", and beginning from 1993 it run as an independent business unit. In 1994 it was re-organized into OJSC "Almaty Airport", later re-named to JSC Almaty International Airport.