Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) International Airport continues to demonstrate its success in sustainable growth and passenger satisfaction through strong steps taken in digitalisation. The AI-powered digital assistant SAVVy, which significantly eased the call centre workload and delivered a major transformation in passenger communication, marked its first anniversary with celebrations attended by passengers in the terminal.
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) International Airport, Türkiye’s second-largest airport by passenger numbers and Europe’s ninth busiest, continues to demonstrate its success in sustainable growth and passenger satisfaction through strong steps taken in digitalisation.
According to the Airports Council International Europe data, ISG became Europe’s fastest-growing airport in October with a 28.1% increase in passengers compared to the previous year and aims to welcome 47 million passengers in 2026. Behind Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport’s consecutive passenger and flight records lie the digitalisation initiatives that top its 2025 objectives. Introduced for the first time at the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) “Artificial Intelligence in the Skies” event in November 2024, SAVVy evolved over time as the first generative AI-based digital assistant used in airports and undertook a significant part of the call centre load within ISG’s operations.
“SAVVy has become a real team member”
At the first-anniversary event for SAVVy, ISG’s management and employees came together to hear from Customer Experience Chief Özen Çakır Özel about the assistant’s contribution, particularly to CRM operations. Stating that SAVVy is not just a digital assistant but a real team member transforming Sabiha Gökçen Airport’s communication, service approach, and processes, Özel said:
“One of the most important points for us when implementing generative AI was to avoid giving passengers the feeling of ‘talking to a robot’ and instead offer them an assistant who converses, understands, and responds in natural language. We know that when people seek support, they actually want to speak to a personal assistant one-on-one. SAVVy has met this need with a warm and human-like touch, helping our passengers embrace the technology and choose to use it again and again.”
“The first generative AI-based digital assistant used in airports”
ISG’s IT Director İsmihan Baysal Anderson stated during her speech:
“In our airport, which operates 24/7 and stands out with its high passenger density, we focus on making the passenger experience smarter, faster, and contactless in line with global trends in the aviation sector. With the development of AI technologies, we placed these advancements at the centre of our strategy. SAVVy, developed within the scope of our digitalisation vision to increase passenger satisfaction and offer a faster, more accurate, and personalised experience, was designed using Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology as one of the unique projects in the aviation sector. SAVVy can instantly respond to our guests’ questions and requests in a conversational setting in Turkish, English, as well as German and French, just like speaking to a real person. As the first generative AI-based digital assistant used in airports to enhance customer experience, SAVVy exceeded expectations in a short time. Today, many companies are trying to integrate AI into business solutions, yet we learned that the success rate is around 4%. We take pride in being within this 4% success group thanks to SAVVy,” she said.
19% Increase in Passenger Numbers – Digital Balance in Call Workload
İsmihan Baysal Anderson also shared SAVVy’s six-month performance data to highlight the supporting power of AI in operations at an airport where thousands of people gather at the same time:
“Between 1 April and 31 October 2024, when we actively integrated SAVVy into our systems, Sabiha Gökçen Airport welcomed 25 million passengers, while in the same period of 2025, this number reached approximately 29.7 million. This 19% increase indicated significant growth in operational density. During the same period, our call centre answered 48,381 calls in 2024 and 68,690 calls in 2025. Starting from April, SAVVy responded to 53,736 messages from passengers through the digital channel, taking on a major share of the workload. In 2025, when a total of 122,426 passenger interactions took place, 56% of these contacts were handled by the call centre and 44% by SAVVy. During this period, without increasing our team size—using only the same staff and adding SAVVy as a +1 team member—we successfully managed this density. This clearly demonstrates the difference that technology can make when used correctly,” she said.
Highlighting that nearly half of all passenger interactions are now managed digitally, Anderson added: “This impact contributes to passenger satisfaction by reducing waiting times and enables more efficient use of call centre resources. The scale of digital interaction clearly shows that passengers embrace fast, easy, and digital solutions.”
A Smiling Moment at the Airport
As part of SAVVy’s birthday celebrations, performance artist Serdar Atsak gave a mini concert using his self-invented wheeled musical instrument. Singing as he toured the terminal, Atsak was accompanied by the SAVVy mascot. Passengers joined the entertaining event by singing and dancing. Eco-friendly tote bags and travel pillows designed with the SAVVy theme were gifted to guests. SAVVy attracted particular attention from children with its dances and cheerful demeanour.
A Smarter Airport Experience with Artificial Intelligence
SAVVy provides instant answers to passengers’ requests regarding flights, directions, transportation, service points, and frequently asked questions. Thanks to the developed infrastructure, the system offers increasingly accurate and personalised solutions on a growing number of topics each day. Connecting 152 destinations—39 domestic and 113 international—in 54 countries, Sabiha Gökçen Airport aims to expand SAVVy’s capabilities in the coming period and integrate AI-powered digital solutions into every stage of the passenger experience.
