At the Crossroads: Turkey’s key role in 21st century logistics

The airport itself

“Atatürk Airport is not on the level to meet future demands due to the developments in civil aviation,” said Büyükekşi. Özen concurs, telling Air Cargo World that he is, “impatient,” for the new airport, located on the northwest outskirts of Istanbul, to open in 2018, explaining that the current facilities are, “barely matching our fast-growing capacity requirements.”

The new airport is a monumental investment, with construction costs estimated at around €10.3 billion. Hüseyin Keskin, CEO of IGA Airport Operation, the consortium behind the massive project, went as far as to call the new airport an “Aerial” Silk Road. Keskin added that, “Turkey’s strategic location, significant investments by Turkish Airlines in the freight sector, and the developing economy of our country ensure that Turkey becomes an ever more crucial center for air cargo transportation.”

In July, IGA announced that it had inked cargo service deals worth a total of €250 million with six local freight and logistics companies. The companies, including a national integrator, MNG, PTT (the Turkish postal service) and ground handler Çelebi all signed 25-year contracts that allow them to build and operate their own facilities at the airport’s “Cargo City and Ground Services Campus.”

The Istanbul New Airport will be “one of the world’s largest airports, with a capacity of 150 million passengers and 5.5 million tons of cargo, when it’s 100 percent operational, even surpassing Hong Kong,” said Büyükekşi. The new hub will also feature a 1.4 million square meter “Cargo City” that can accommodate 35 large widebody jets simultaneously.

“We, as the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly, representing 67,000 exporters, who provide jobs for 3.1 million people, are confident that the share of air cargo transportation will increase as Turkey becomes the center of transit flights and international air logistics with the contributions of the third airport,” Büyükekşi said. He also pointed to technological investments that would increase efficiency and allow authorities to respond quickly to complaints and comments. “[The new airport] is absolutely a new, innovative airport, and, with this huge capacity, will provide a greater contribution to the Turkish economy by establishing trust on our partners,” Büyükekşi concluded.

From the forwarders’ perspective, the new airport expands their horizons as well. “With high capacity and highend technological infrastructure of this new airport, cargo capacity will increase tremendously, and provide us with operational facilities to do our job better and faster,” said Dilşat Yumurtaci Onder, CCO for DSV Turkey. DSV plans to open their new airport office as soon as possible, and will have a team of around 20 employees on the ground. Onder said that the increased warehouse capacity at the new airport will improve the handling of perishable goods in particular.