(Airport World Online) – Kazakhstan’s Almaty International Airport is looking to expand its facilities to accommodate future growth, and has hired Lufthansa Consulting to come up with a master plan for its development.

The airport said it had contracted the consultancy firm to design a development plan that would help it meet its future capacity demands and plan for the forecasted growth in both passenger numbers and cargo over the next 20 years. Lufthansa Consulting said the master plan would be done in three phases.

Firstly, the company will conduct a market potential analysis and traffic forecast by looking into the airport’s capability and traffic demand in the passenger, cargo and mail business segments.

Then it will examine the gateway’s existing infrastructure, facilities and services as well as conduct an assessment of capacity and operational conditions.

Finally, using the analysis Lufthansa will provide a virtual master plan – including an action plan – which will include prioritised recommendations and an infrastructure development proposal.

Almaty International Airport is the largest airport in the Republic of Kazakhstan, and in 2010 it handled 3.08 million passengers and 63, 300 tonnes of airfreight.