IGA Airport Operation, which has the contract to build and operate Turkey's mega hub, set to open in 2018, has signed 25-year contracts with MNG, PTT, Çelebi Ground Handling, HAVAŞ, Sistem Logistics and Bilin Logistics.
All six companies will build their own facilities at Istanbul New Airport, located at Cargo City. MNG, Çelebi Ground Handling and HAVAŞ will also have bases at the Ground Services Campus.
Upon completion, the cargo area of the airport will total 1.4m square metres in size, including cargo aircraft parking areas which will accommodate the simultaneous handling of 35 wide-body cargo aircraft. This will give the airport the capacity to handle 2.5m tonnes of cargo opening, expected to grow to a greater capacity of 5.5m tonnes of cargo a year in the final phase of development. The existing Ataturk airport facilities handled 918,000 tonnes in 2016 and are expected to handle 1m tonnes by the end of the year.
IGA Airport Operation CEO, Hüseyin Keskin, commented. “Currently, the airport with the largest global cargo movement is Hong Kong airport with a volume slightly more than 4.5m tonnes. Yet, the Istanbul New Airport will have a capacity of 5.5m tonnes when all its phases are complete.”
He added: “Turkey’s strategic location, significant investments by Turkish Airlines in the freight sector, and the developing economy of our country, ensure that Turkey becomes an ever more crucial centre for air cargo transportation.”
When Istanbul New Airport begins operations, flights will serve 350 different destinations.
