Turkish Airlines eyes ‘new house’ in Istanbul

SEATTLE - Anadolu Agency

AA Photo

Turkish Airlines Chairman İlker Aycı has said the company was looking forward to the opening of its “new house,” the third airport in Istanbul, which will have a capacity of 90 million passengers in the first phase. 

“We’ll be ‘primus inter pares’ in the new airport. I mean we’ll have the largest space when the airport is opened with an initial capacity of 90 million passengers with one terminal. When the airport enters into the second phase with a planned capacity of 120-150 million passengers, the first terminal is expected to be left to our use. We’ll be operating there. Our new house will be the third airport and we are looking forward to seeing its opening,” he told a group of journalists on a plane en route from Seattle to Istanbul. 

He also noted the company has been assessing the establishment of new hubs in Turkey until the new airport is opened in Istanbul. 

“The capacity of the Atatürk Airport is very limited, although the airport hits records with an unbelievable performance. The airport has become the largest in Europe along with London’s Heathrow and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle,” he said.  

Aycı also noted Turkish Airlines and Boeing would define the details of their long-term collaboration agreement, which was signed on Jan. 29. 

In the agreement, Turkish Airlines and Boeing identified several potential areas of new cooperation, expanding Boeing’s already-significant investment within Turkish industry. 

He also said the national airliner aimed to reach 72 million passengers in 2016. 

“Our 2015 target was 62 million. We’ll increase this to 72 million this year. We also aim to reach around $12.2 billion in revenue with the exclusion of our subsidiaries, which are expected to post $5.5 billion in revenue. Our revenue target is $30 billion by 2023,” he said.