İGA Airport Operations Inc. has announced a major investment plan for Istanbul Airport. In a statement to Bloomberg in London, İGA Airport CEO Selahattin Bilgen revealed that they will invest a total of 665 million euros in a private jet terminal and a solar power plant to meet the airport’s energy needs. This investment will be financed from İGA’s own resources, considering the high borrowing costs in Turkey.
Bilgen stated that Istanbul Airport currently has three runways, and they have started the construction of a fourth. Along with this new runway, an additional backup runway will be built, supplementing the two existing backup runways. Bilgen expressed that they expect the number of passengers at Istanbul Airport to increase by 12% this year, reaching approximately 85 million. He noted that Istanbul Airport is the second busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger numbers, behind London Heathrow Airport, and they aim to surpass Heathrow within the next two years.
According to Bilgen, the current terminal at Istanbul Airport was built to accommodate 90 million passengers but can be configured to serve 120 million passengers. İGA plans to serve 200 million passengers with six main runways by 2043. This goal will make Istanbul Airport competitive with Gulf hubs as a transit point.
İGA is also in talks to attract Chinese airlines to Istanbul Airport. Bilgen mentioned that İGA shareholders currently do not intend to sell shares, but an initial public offering could be possible within the next five years, depending on market conditions. He added that current shareholders Kalyon Holding and Cengiz İnşaat might decide to bring in strategic investors in the future.
These investment plans are considered significant steps to enhance the capacity and service quality of Istanbul Airport, strengthening its position in the global aviation industry.
www.aerohaber.com | www.tr.aerohaber.com
Note: Aviation news on our news site cannot be used without citing the sourc.
