Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Turkey intends to become an aviation hub of the region and serious work is being done for this purpose, a source in the country’s Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend.
Important activities have been carried out in Turkey for the development of the aviation sector in the last 15 years, according to the source.
“Over the past 15 years, 29 airports have been built in Turkey and their total number in the country has grown to 55,” the source noted.
Over the past two years, the number of passengers using Turkish airports has reached 367.3 million people, according to the source.
After the construction of the third airport in Istanbul, the Turkish aviation sector will develop at an even faster pace, the source added.
Test flights will be launched at Istanbul’s third airport in February 2018. Construction of a parking lot designed for 30,000 cars at the airport will be completed in the same month.
The third airport is being built near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul. Initially, it will serve 90 million passengers a year. The first phase of the airport will be commissioned on Oct. 29, 2018. After commissioning, the number of flight destinations in Turkey will increase from 282 to 350. The new airport will annually serve about 200 million passengers.
About 300 passenger and service elevators will be installed at Istanbul’s third airport.
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