iGA Istanbul Airport pilots therapy dog project to reduce flight stress

iGA Istanbul Airport offers a peaceful and enjoyable travel experience to passengers experiencing flight-related stress.

iGA Istanbul Airport offers a peaceful and enjoyable travel experience to passengers experiencing flight-related stress with the support of furry friends through the “Therapy Dog Project”, the first of its kind in Türkiye.

What is the project?

As part of the pilot project, specially trained therapy dogs interact with passengers at the airport and offer them support with their friendly energy. The dogs are on duty in the international departures area during the day, especially during peak hours of flights.

Abdülkadir Demirtaş, Customer Experience Manager at iGA Istanbul Airport, made the following remarks on the project: “As one of the world’s largest transportation hubs, we host millions of guests from many countries at our airport. For this reason, we are constantly improving our services for different needs and situations by putting passenger satisfaction at the centre. Traveling can be a stressful experience, which is why we care about providing a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere at our airport. Many scientific studies have proven the positive effects of human and animal interaction on blood pressure, stress and anxiety levels. Acting in the light of this research, we aim to provide a joyful and stress-free travel experience at our airport with therapy dogs. In this way, we aim for our guests to leave our airport happy and with pleasant memories.”

The coordination of the project, which initially involves 5 dogs, including the training and care of the dogs, is carried out by a team led by Volkan Arslan, the Veterinarian at iGA Istanbul Airport.

Animal-friendly airport

As a pet-friendly airport, iGA Istanbul Airport has a total of four pet rooms, one in the check-in islands area on the departing passenger floor, two additional pet rooms after passport control and one on the arrivals floor, to meet the needs of the pets traveling through the airport.

All of the pet rooms are equipped with products such as cat and dog food, litter, cat scratching boards and various other products to meet the basic needs of the passengers’ furry travel companions.