ISG plans to woo more airlines in 2018
ISTANBUL: Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG) plans to woo more international airlines next year, including the Dubai-based Emirates.
ISG chief executive officer, Ersel Goral, said the airport which is wholly-owned by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd had ‘shaken hands’ with Emirates where the airline was scheduled to launch its flights in April 2018.
He said Emirates would have daily flights out of Dubai, operating on Boeing 777.
“This (Emirates) is not the only airline we are expecting to receive (in 2018). There are on-going talks with several airlines from Europe and Middle East,” he said.
Goral said this to the Malaysian media here on the development of ISG on Monday.
ISG currently serves over 50 international airlines. It serves about 40 domestic networks.
The major carriers in ISG now include Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines and Qatar Airways.
He said about two-thirds of the airport’s passenger volume currently were from the domestic networks and the rest from the international.
“ISG is expected to handle 31.2 million passengers this year (2017),” he said.
Goral said the current single runway had the capacity to cater to 40 air traffic movements per hour.
The second runway, currently under construction and was expected to be completed end2018, would boost air traffic movements to 80 per hour, he said. — Bernama