Monday, 9 November 2009Flights began from the new international flights terminal of the airport in Istanbul's Anatolian side on Monday.
The new terminal of the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul's Anatolian side started serving passengers with the first international flights of Turkish Airlines (THY) and SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Germany's Lufthansa.
"SunExpress has five aircraft in the new terminal building, and we will add another to our fleet soon," SunExpress director general Paul Schwaiger said during the ceremony.
Also, Server Aydin, the deputy director general of the airport, said that first THY plane from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, landed at the airport early on Monday morning with 300 passengers aboard.
"We aim to host around 8.5 million passengers in the new terminal in 2010, and raise this number over 10 million in 2011," Aydin also said.
Aydin said other airline companies would start serving passengers as of this weekend.
THY will fly to Moscow, London, Cologne, Stuttgart, Berlin, Hannover and Amsterdam seven days a week from the new terminal.
Also, SunExpress will fly to 11 destinations in Germany and Zurich, Switzerland from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport.
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the new terminal on October 31.
The construction began on May 1, 2008. There are 96 check-in desks and 30 self check-in desks, and automatic explosive detection system in the new terminal.
The new terminal would have a capacity to serve 25 million passengers. It will have a 200,000-square meter closed area. There will be a 120-room hotel, a four-storey parking area for 4,718 vehicles and 72 buses.
The Sabiha Gokcen International Airport Investment, Construction and Management Corporation got the management rights of the airport for 20 years on May 1, 2008 in return for 1.9 billion Euros. |
Monday, 9 November 2009
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