Work begins on 10 million-passenger airport in Turkey

Turkey will begin work on an offshore airport along the Black Sea this year, transport and infrastructure minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has said.

The airport, to be built in northeastern Turkey, will include a 10 million-passenger terminal and a 3,000 metre runway, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported, quoting the minister.

The project is part of the government’s investment programme. Tenders have been completed and the site handover is under way, he said.

“We are at the stage of groundbreaking and excavation,” Uraloğlu said.

The current Trabzon Airport, in the eastern region of the Black Sea, serves more than 3 million passengers annually, but has no room for expansion. 

The new facility will accommodate wide-body aircraft and support growing tourism demand, the minister said.

No financial details or a completion date were disclosed.

Further reading:

• Turkey to build new offshore airport on Black Sea
• Turkish Airlines injects $2bn to create 36,000 jobs
• Turkish Airlines sees engine woes grounding 45 Airbus jets

Turkey has 58 airports. That number will increase to 60 this year with the openings of Bayburt-Gümüşhane in the north east and Yozgat closer to the centre of the country.

The government has already developed the Rize-Artvin and Ordu-Giresun airports off the Black Sea coast.

Air passenger traffic was 247 million last year, with the number slated to exceed 260 million in 2026, Uraloğlu said.