Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
A logistics center is set for construction at the new Istanbul airport, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey told Trend.
The construction of the center is planned to be completed in two stages.
“At the first stage, a 1.4 million square meter (m2) area shall be allocated for the construction of the logistics center at the Istanbul airport, and 200,000 m2 for the second stage,” the ministry stated.
It was mentioned that the total area of the center in what is Istanbul’s third airport will comprise 1.6 million m2.
An opening ceremony for the new airport was held on October 22, 2018, which was attended by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan.
The new airport was built near Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul. The construction of the airport cost 10 billion Turkish liras (TL), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Turkey told Trend previously.
The following Turkish banks granted loans for the construction: Ziraat Bank - 1.54 billion euros (EUR), Halkbank and Vakıfbank - 1 billion EUR each, Denizbank - 500 million EUR, Garanti and Finansbank - 300 million EUR.
The first airport in Turkey was built in 1912 and was used for military purposes. The Istanbul Airport was first opened for international flights in 1953, and was renamed in honor of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, in 1985.
The new airport in Istanbul served 95.3 thousand passengers till the end of December 2018, with 65.1 thousand passengers served on domestic flights and 30.2 thousand on international flights. 718 flights were made during this period, with 487 domestic flights and 231 international flights.
($1=5.3238 TL on January 24)
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