Sabiha Gökçen wins best airport award

ISTANBUL-Demirören News Agency

Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport has received the CAPA-Center for Aviation’s Large Airport of the Year award.

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport has established itself as a leader and done the most to advance the progress of the aviation industry, CAPA said.

“The airport was selected for sustaining passenger traffic, following a decade of very high growth, in the face of the opening of a brand new, capacity-unconstrained airport across the city,” it added.

This prize is awarded to airports with over 30 million annual passengers.

Sabiha Göçken is Turkey’s second and Europe’s 12th busiest airport, handling over 35 million passengers per annum.

“We are deeply honored to receive this award from CAPA. It’s a recognition of our remarkable growth story,” said Ersel Göral, CEO of Sabiha Gökçen International Airport.

“The significance of this award also coincides with the 10th year since the opening of [Sabiha Göçken] SAW’s new terminal, where traffic has grown more than six times, serving over 200 million passengers since then,” he added.

Meanwhile, the airport authority (DHMİ) reported on Dec. 6 that Turkey’s airports served a total of 195.4 million travelers in January-November this year, a 0.8 percent decline on an annual basis.

International passenger number increased by 11.4 percent in the first 11 months to 102.5 million, while domestic passenger declined 11.5 percent from a year ago to 92.8 million.

Istanbul Airport hosted a total 47.3 million passengers, according to data.

Istanbul Airport, whose first phase officially opened in October 2018, took over air traffic from the former main Atatürk Airport on April 6.

DHMİ also reported that the country’s airports served around 1.9 million aircraft, including overflights, a slight 0.5 percent increase on an annual basis.