Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.7 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
At present, work is underway in Turkey to create seven more new airports, Turkish Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communications said in its report, posted on its website on Thursday.
The number of provinces where airports will operate will reach 46 compared to 42 at present.
As a result of implementation of these projects, the number of airports in Turkey will reach 56. According to the report, since 2003 to the present day, work on airport expansion and investments in this sector has increased by 2.5 times.
At present, Turkey is preparing to launch a tender for the construction of a new, third airport in Istanbul. This will be built on an area near Lake Terkos in the north of the city. The airport's transportation capacity will be 150 million passengers a year.
Earlier, the Air Transport Department under the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Shipping and Communications told Trend that the construction of the third airport in Istanbul will cost 10 billion lira.
The ministry also stressed that at the first stage, the airport will have the capacity to serve 90 million people a year. Later, this figure will be increased to 150 million.