Experts warn on flight safety threat in Istanbul's third airport

ISTANBUL

The altitude level for the airport was set as 105 meters in the tender documents, but this level has recently be revised down to 70 meters. AA Photo

The decrease in the altitude level of the planned third airport to 70 meters from 105 meters, due to the high cost of removing soil, may make the airport non-functional and flights insecure, according to the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB).

“The planned decrease in the altitude level of the airport to 70 meters from 105 meters will make the whole airport non-functional, as it is not possible for airplanes to take off from and land on the fields with an altitude level of 70 meters, according to international flight security criteria,” stated the TMMOB Istanbul Coordination Board report on the third airport.

The altitude level for the airport was set as 105 meters in the tender documents, but this level has recently be revised down to 70 meters.

“This step was taken to decrease the soil filling amount to 420 million cubic meters from 2.5 billion cubic meters,” said Süleyman Solmaz, the spokesperson of the TMMOB board.

“Take offs and landings on the southern side of the airport will impossible with the revised altitude level, according to the international flight safety standards. Trimming the hills in the region may be a solution, but it is also not possible to trim the hills there as the third bridge path is now being built in that location. Therefore, the original 105 m of the altitude level must not be changed,” Solmaz said.

The consortium that won the airport construction contract, however, has refuted these claims and described a revision to the altitude level as “baseless.”

The TMMOB’s board members also stated that the construction of the third airport will harm the natural environment, plants and animals on 76.5 square kilometers of land where the airport will be built.