Turkmenistan Opens $2.3 Billion Falcon-Shaped Airport

There’s a new airport in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat and it looks fierce! The falcon-like structure cost $2.3 billion and can process over 1600 passengers an hour. Unfortunately, only 105,000 tourists visited the country in 2015 or 12 an hour which made a lot of people question the purpose of the project.

Turkmenistan gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It produces about 70 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year which is the main source of income for the country with the population of 5 million. Like many post-soviet countries, it suffers high levels of corruption. It also has dictatorship rule, therefore the media is controlled by the government.

(h/t: bbc)

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Image credits: AP Photo

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Image credits: Polimeks

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Image credits: Polimeks

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Image credits: AFP

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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What do you think ?

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Vincent Jay 8 years ago

Beautiful building, but I question the wisdom of spending that much money on a building, when millions of Turmeni citizens are living in relative poverty.

10points

Uche E 8 years ago

They're not living in "relative poverty". Who told you that??

0points

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Cassie 8 years ago

I'm not sure it's practical, but it certainly is pretty.

6points

Jonathan Eatsalot 8 years ago

The poor are unimpressed

3points

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POST

Vincent Jay 8 years ago

Beautiful building, but I question the wisdom of spending that much money on a building, when millions of Turmeni citizens are living in relative poverty.

10points