Istanbul Airport wins ATRS award for efficiency and passenger volume

As the world’s largest airport constructed from scratch within a record time of 42 months and with a capacity to handle 90 million annual passengers and the region’s most important global hub, Istanbul Airport (IST) continues to receive awards from prestigious institutions of the aviation industry with its strong infrastructure, efficient operation, superior technology, and premium travel experience.

Operating under the World Conference on Transport Research (WCTRS), the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) has selected Istanbul Airport as ‘The Most Efficient Airport in EU with more than 40 million passengers per year’ category. Istanbul Airport has received full marks for the criteria of the research, in which, airport operations and performance measurements such as: management strategies, efficiency, capacity, operational efficiency, unit costs, and cost competitiveness were meticulously examined.

Recognised efficiency policies

Researchers of Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) hosted the Annual Global Airport Performance Benchmarking project at Embry-Riddle Aviation University in Florida, U.S., under the guidance of a team of 16 people including leading academics from the Asia Pacific, EU, and North America. The airports to be awarded within the scope of the project were determined according to their competency rank in their regions and classes of size, as measured by the residual Variable Factor Productivity (R-VFP) Index.

The award-winning airports were announced at the 24th ATRS World Conference held online between 26 to 29 August 2021, along with the ATRS airport benchmarking report, which summarises the efficiency of airports around the world. There was a wide participation from all segments of the aviation industry, including airline companies, airports, managers from the air traffic control and aerospace fields, bureaucrats, consultants and academics.

Commenting on Istanbul Airport being deemed worthy of the ‘The Most Efficient Airport in EU’ award, Fırat Emsen, the Chief Technical Officer, said: “Each award we win is very valuable as it shows that our achievements are followed with admiration in the international arena. World-leading aviation researchers have appreciated the smooth operation, our efficiency policies, during the year 2019 where we moved from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Istanbul Airport within 33 hours and had a smooth opening of our facilities without disruptions for our airlines.

“Thanks to our trained teams, we have been implementing our efficiency policies, which we started during the construction stage of Istanbul Airport and continued during the operation phase at every stage of our business. At IST, where world class customer experience, innovation, technology, digitalisation, system and operation integrations, and rapid decision-making processes are at the forefront, we have created a system that works flawlessly with the efficiency we provide. At Istanbul Airport, the gateway to the world, we will continue to carry out successful and award-winning projects.”