This Sunday, Turkey's Transportation Minister, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, paid a visit to the fresh runway at Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Minister Uraloğlu happily shared that Sabiha Gokcen Airport has become Turkey's third busiest, right after Istanbul Airport, and they're expecting even more folks to use it once the new runway kicks in.
Abdulkadir highlighted how big of a deal this new runway is for Turkish aviation. Since 2002, Turkey has gone from 26 to 57 active airports, and passenger capacity has skyrocketed from 55 million to a whopping 337 million.
Now, Turkey can fly to 343 different spots in 130 countries, adding 283 new destinations since 2002. The number of planes soared by 270%, going from 489 in 2002 to a staggering 1,813 today. And the cool part? They managed all of this without dipping into the government's wallet, pulling off the entire thing with around 297.5 million euros.
Minister Uraloğlu also chatted about how Turkey's airports rank globally. In 2022, Turkey rocked the aviation charts by grabbing the third position in Europe and the sixth spot worldwide for the total number of passengers. They've got not one, not two, but three airports in the top 20 in Europe and the top 50 globally. And guess what? Istanbul Airport is the reigning champ, being the busiest in Europe and the seventh busiest in the whole wide world! Talk about making a mark in the sky.
Proudly, the Minister shared that ever since they opened Istanbul Airport in 2018, Turkey has become a massive global transit hub. They're also rolling up their sleeves to upgrade Antalya Airport, aiming to handle more passengers—from 35 million to a whopping 80 million each year. The cherry on top? They're doing all of this without a single penny from the government, expecting to rake in 8.555 billion euros over 25 years.
Speaking about the new runway at Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Uraloğlu spilled the beans on their plans to double its capacity for incoming and outgoing flights. The new runway is longer, and they've even built a tunnel underneath the highway. Plus, there's a shiny new terminal in the works to make room for more travelers at Sabiha Gokcen Airport.
