A new building has been added to service at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport’s domestic terminal that will boost the airport's annual passenger capacity to over 40 million.
Following a US$30.5 million investment, the new building will increase the capacity of the airport, which is the second biggest airport in Turkey, from 31 million to 41 million.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ersel Göral, the CEO of Sabiha Gokcen Airport Investment Development and Operation (ISG), said that airport's passenger traffic grew eightfold over the last decade, last year reaching 31.2 million persons.
Göral said that Sabiha Gökçen Airport is world’s 8th best airport and only Turkish airport in top 10 in rankings of 2017 airport on-time performance, with a performance of 82.3%. In other words, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport ensured that 82.3% of arriving and departing flights operated under 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival and departure times in 2017.
The airport achieved double-digit growth in the first half of 2018. The airport served to 16.2 million passengers during the first half of 2018. It was 14.4 million in 2017; this represents a 12% increase in passenger volume this year. The international travelers using the airport increased 13% to 5.2 million in the same period, whereas the increase in domestic passengers increased 12% to 11 million. In the same period, the number of flight movements also increased 7% to 106.631.
Göral added that only in June 2018, Sabiha Gökçen Airport handled a total of 2.8 million passengers; an increase of 9% compare to June 2017.
The airport expected to open its second runway in 2019, following an approximately $1 billion investment. The second runway will increase the airport’s capacity to 63 million.
Göral also informed that the metro connection to the airport is expected to complete by the beginning of 2019. Passengers will be able to travel to Kadıköy in 35 minutes and to Taksim in 45 minutes.
In the first half of 2018, more than 97.6 million people traveled through airports in Turkey, according to the State Airports Authority (DHMI) Directorate.
