2024 will be the Year of Investments for iGA Istanbul Airport

2024 will be the Year of Investments for iGA.

iGA Istanbul Airport, one of the world’s most significant transfer hubs, declared 2024 the “Year of Investments.” Selahattin Bilgen, acting CEO at iGA Istanbul Airport, stated that they invested 160.1 million Euros in 2023 and announced their investment target in 2024 as 656.5 million Euros.

Bilgen stated: “In 2024, we plan to increase the number of our passengers to 85 million and the number of flights to 532 thousand, and to have a growth of 11.43 percent in all flights. In addition, with 11 new airline companies starting their operations at our airport this year, we will also lead the world in this field.”

Increasing its influence as an international global transfer centre day by day, İGA Istanbul Airport started 2024 with innovations and growth targets. Evaluating the year 2023 of İGA Istanbul Airport and announcing its plans for 2024, acting CEO of İGA Istanbul Airport, Selahattin Bilgen, emphasised that they left behind a period full of success and that, although they were a newly established airport during the pandemic period, they adapted to this situation within a very short time, thanks to their strategic location and agile structure.

Pointing out that as a young organisation, only five years old, they have held the title of “Europe’s Busiest Airport” in number of flights for the last four consecutive years. Bilgen said:

“While this number was 329,876 in 2019 when we started flight operations, the number of flights in 2023 was 505,968. In addition to its many features, Türkiye is also a tourism country. We became fourth in the world to host the highest number of tourists. We are pleased to contribute to Türkiye’s national economy and to our citizens through this sector in which we are involved. Our total number of passengers, which was 52,748,000 in 2019, reached 76 million in 2023. According to the number of flights in 2023, we broke a record of daily flights at 1,690 on June 11, 2023. We had a new record in passenger numbers, with 266,184 passengers, on July 2, 2023.

New target: 85 million passengers

Announcing that their passenger target for 2024 is 85 million, Bilgen stated that iGA Istanbul Airport continues to grow its passenger traffic with an increasing number of passengers every day. “We plan to increase the number of our flights to 532,000 in 2024,” said Bilgen, highlighting that they plan to increase the number of passengers by 12.77% and the number of flights by 12.46%.

11 new airlines are coming

Expressing that they are proud to increase the number of airline companies they serve at İGA Istanbul Airport, which was 61 in 2019, to 101 on the 100^th anniversary of the Republic, Bilgen announced that they will be welcoming a total of 11 new airlines by the end of 2024. Bilgen stated: “This signifies iGA Istanbul Airport establishing a new leadership in the global aviation industry. iGA Istanbul Airport ranks among the world’s top three airports regarding the number of served airline companies.

“We will reach a passenger capacity of 200 million with our triple parallel runway operation, which is a first in Europe.”

Saying that they will implement the first triple parallel runway operation in Europe in 2024, Selahattin Bilgen added, “We will break new ground among ICAO member nations with our triple independent runway operations.” Bilgen continued: “We are targeting operations with the highest efficiency and capacity, after the USA. With this method, our 120 ATM/h (hourly air traffic capacity) capacity can potentially exceed 148 ATM/h. This capacity increase in air traffic will play an essential role in our airport exceeding its contract’s 150 million passenger target and reaching 200 million passengers without any additional runway investment following Phase 5.”

“We aim for a total investment of 656.5 million euros in 2024.”

Stating that they had invested 160.1 million euros in 2023, Bilgen confirmed that they are going to increase their investment as iGA Istanbul Airport in 2024, and continued:

2024 will be the “Year of Investments” for iGA. We will invest 35 million Euros this year for the General Aviation Terminal, which we plan to complete at the end of 2024. We plan to invest 146.4 million Euros in the Eskişehir GES Project, which we will complete by the end of 2024. With the 199.32 MWe unlicensed SPP (Solar Power Plant) to be established on an area of 3,000,000 square meters by iGA Havalimanı İşletmesi A.Ş. in Eskişehir, iGA will be the first airport in the world to meet all of its electricity needs with renewable energy. We anticipate an annual energy production of 340.446.833 kWh/year through this plant. For Hilton Istanbul Airport, which we plan to complete in the first quarter of 2025, we have an investment target of 25.6 million Euros this year. We aim to invest a total of 656.5 million euros in 2024, with a total investment of 331.2 million euros planned for the construction of the East-West runway and the North-South backup runway in 2024.”

“Our total cargo area is three times larger than Hong Kong’s.”

Pointing out that iGA Istanbul Airport is a significant centre in terms of world cargo transportation, Bilgen added: “There are currently 14 scheduled cargo airline companies that are actively operating at the airport. Bilgen noted: “We currently have an infrastructure at our airport that could reach a capacity of 5.5 million tons, and our total cargo area is at an impressive level of 1.4 million square meters. This is almost three times Hong Kong’s total cargo area. Our rental area capacity has reached 340 thousand square meters.”

FedEx and Trendyol’s massive investment in iGA

iGA Istanbul Airport also announced its cooperation with Trendyol and FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company, and Bilgen confirmed that, “We are proud to host Europe’s new global air transportation facility.” He said that FedEx Express had started installing a 23,000-square-meter facility in the iGA Istanbul Airport Cargo Zone in September. “This facility, in which FedEx Express invested 26 million euros, will be a hub that will integrate operations on three continents, providing strategic connectivity between Asia and Africa.”

The Trendyol project, which will have a total area of 12,000 square meters and a daily output capacity of 150,000 products, with an investment of 36 million euros in November, is planned to become operational in the first quarter of 2025. Thus, the storage areas will increase to 150,000 square meters, the number of warehouses to 14, and the parcel area to 353,000 square meters.

“Our emissions will be reduced by 45%.”

Reporting that iGA Istanbul Airport, with its “Our Focus is the World, Our Goal is the Future” mission, is among the world’s airports committed to “Net Zero CO2 Emissions”, Bilgen emphasised their aim to reduce their emissions by 45 percent in six years compared to the base year. “We will achieve 73% emission reduction in 2040 and reach the Net Zero Emission target in 2050”, Bilgen said, underlining that they completed the year 2023 with 14% less emissions than targeted according to the Net Zero roadmap prepared in line with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario.

He added: “With our waste recycling programme, we are determined to achieve our zero emission targets by 2050, taking concrete steps such as reducing emissions caused by waste by 50% and converting 50% of our vehicle fleet to electric vehicles,” he said. Emphasising that iGA Istanbul Airport has achieved significant success in the ACI Airports Carbon Accreditation programme by reaching Level 4 in three years, Bilgen said: “Our total energy consumption decreased by -10.7% in 2023. We procured 30% of the water consumed at our airport from recycled water. Our water footprint decreased by 5% compared to last year. We recycled 35% of our waste and ensured its addition into our country’s economy as a raw material.”

“Our airport’s public appreciation rate is 89%.”

Bilgen added that the satisfaction of passengers coming to the airport is increasing every day. He announced that in the study conducted by GfK Research Company over three years, the public’s appreciation rate of Istanbul Airport has increased continuously, reaching 89% in 2023. Selahattin Bilgen stated that the believes that this rate will increase even higher with the opening of the Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport metro, and emphasized their satisfaction in being the preferred airport of the people of Istanbul.