Istanbul's New Airport to host ACI Airport Exchange 2015

IGA Havalimani Isletmesi A.S. – the company building what should be the world's biggest new airport, just north of Istanbul – has announced that it will host ACI Airport Exchange 2015, the event that combines an extensive airport services exhibition with five specialist conferences, which is staged jointly by two regions of Airports Council International, ACI Europe and ACI Asia-Pacific.
Time Aerospace thumbnail

Above: The €10.2 billion Istanbul New Airport phase 1 will be completed before the end of 2017. The İGA-hosted ACI Airport Exchange 2015 will be the first major international event focused around the game-changing Istanbul New Airport mega-hub.

The İGA-hosted ACI Airport Exchange 2015 will take place on 8-10 December 2015 at the new Istanbul Congress Center in the heart of downtown Istanbul. As leading companies around the world compete to become involved with the largest new airport ever built, the exhibition is expected to attract in excess of 150 exhibitors, while up to 2,500 delegates and visitors are forecast to visit. In addition to the regular five ACI Airport Exchange specialist conferences, an ‘Istanbul New Airport Development Conference’, dedicated to the €10.2 billion new airport, will be combined with the first-ever large-scale guided visits to the construction site.

Above: The İGA-hosted ACI Airport Exchange will take place 8-10 December at the new Istanbul Congress Center in the heart of downtown Istanbul, with exhibitors and delegates able to make the first guided tours of the Istanbul New Airport mega hub construction site.

ACI Airport Exchange 2015 will be the 10th edition of this leading event in the airport development and operations calendar, which is always hosted by a major airport undertaking significant development in Europe or Asia – most recently Hamad International Airport, Doha (2013) and Aéroports de Paris (2014).

Mertol Genç, CEO of İGA said “As the construction of Istanbul’s New Airport surges ahead, there is tremendous worldwide interest in what will become the largest airport in the world and one of its leading hubs. The İGA–hosted ACI Airport Exchange will be the first major international event focused around this game-changing mega-hub and it is likely to draw significant interest from the global air transport industry, providing the first real chance for İGA and our partners to showcase the vision and the giant step towards the future that Istanbul’s New Airport represents.”

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE and Patti Chau, Regional Director, ACI Asia-Pacific commented “Istanbul and Turkey are rising stars in global air transport. As our airport traffic reports over the past 10 years attest, Turkish airports are striding forward with double-digit growth and moving up the traffic rankings with exceptionally impressive speed. The country is steering a clear course to become one of the world’s top 10 economies by its 2023 Centennial year. Just as Istanbul’s New Airport is one of the foremost hub projects in the world, the İGA–hosted ACI Airport Exchange, jointly organised by ACI EUROPE and ACI Asia-Pacific, will be one of the largest ACI events ever staged, and a great bridge of airport learning between east and west.”

Istanbul New Airport: facts and timeline

• January 2013: DHMI, the Turkish state airports authority, issues a tender for a 25-year BOT concession for Istanbul New Airport to be built on a greenfield site 35km north of Istanbul.

• The mega-hub will have an anticipated capacity for up to six runways serving 150 million passengers with extendable capacity up to 200 million. 150 airlines will operate from the airport, serving more than 350 international destinations. Construction cost: €10.2 billion.

• May 2013: The CMLKK consortium (comprising Cengiz-Mapa-Limak-Kolin-Kalyon) wins the concession for €22.152 billion – an amount to be paid as rent in addition to the €10.2 billion construction cost – the largest concession bid in Turkish history.

• October 2013: İGA Havalimanı İşletmesi Anonim Şirketi (İGA) is founded as the new airport company to manage the project.

• November 2013: Concession agreement is signed between İGA and DHMI.

• March 2014: Master Plan submitted to DHMI.

• June 2014: Construction begins with groundbreaking ceremony performed by the Prime Minister.

• January 2015: Construction proceeds rapidly as the world’s biggest duty free agreement signed with Unifree DutyFree (including Gebr. Heinemann) involving a €120 million investment in a 53,000sqm airside retail space.

• February 2015: İGA and DHL sign an MoU to make Istanbul New Airport a regional hub for DHL Express.

• March 2015: İGA announces it will host ACI Airport Exchange 8-10 December 2015, the first major international event focused around this game-changing mega-hub.

• End-2017: Istanbul New Airport Phase 1 scheduled to complete with three runways and a 900,000sqm, 90-million passenger capacity terminal. Construction of the three future phases continues.