Semei International Airport — Semey, Kazakhstan

Semey Airport, coded PLX, serves a northeastern Kazakhstan city that operated for decades under its Soviet-era name, Semipalatinsk, before officially adopting the shorter Semey in 2007, part of a broader post-independence effort to move place names away from their Russian colonial and Soviet associations. The city sits along the Irtysh River and lies within reach of the former Semipalatinsk Test Site, where the Soviet Union conducted hundreds of nuclear weapons tests between 1949 and 1989, leaving a legacy that still shapes regional health and environmental research today. PLX handles a modest schedule of domestic flights connecting Semey with Almaty and the capital Astana, anchoring a regional economy centered on manufacturing, agriculture, and trade with the nearby Russian border. Winters here turn severely cold given the continental climate typical of this part of northeastern Kazakhstan, far from any moderating ocean influence.