MAHB’S €100m EXPANSION PLAN FOR TURKEY’S ISG AIRPORT
Move set to boost passenger handling capacity of Turkey airport to 65 million in 2022
MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is embarking on a €100 million (RM488 million) expansion at its Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG) here. The expansion, together with the construction of its third airport — Istanbul Grand Airport — in the country, will boost ISG’s overall passenger handling capacity to 65 million in 2022.
ISG chief executive officer Ersel Goral said the expansion involves the construction of a new boarding hall, a second runway and a passenger terminal.
The second runway should be ready by the end of next year while completion of the overall project is expected by 2022.
With a double-digit passenger traffic growth anticipated in two years, with the completion of the Istanbul Grand Airport, Goral said ISG will shift its focus to the international market.
“By the end of this year, we expect to serve a total of 31 million passengers. We expect growth to be about eight per cent next year and 10 to 20 per cent from 2019 to 2022,” he told the Malaysian media, here, on Monday.
The Istanbul Grand Airport should be in operation by the end of next year.
“Currently, ISG has a capacity of 33 million passengers a year. The expansion of the boarding hall will increase the capacity to 41 million passengers a year. This will allow us to cope with traffic growth in the next couple of years. With the completion of our second runway and terminal, we will have a total capacity of 65 million passengers a year,” said Goral.
Deemed as Europe’s fastest growing airport, ISG currently serves 53 airlines flying to 217 destinations.