Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport ( tr, İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararası Havalimanı) is one of two
international airports serving
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
, the largest city in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. Located southeast
of the city center, Sabiha Gökçen Airport is in the Asian part of the bi-continental Istanbul and serves as the hub for
AnadoluJet
AnadoluJet is a brand of Turkish Airlines operating as a regional airline. It operates domestic flights as well as flights to Northern Cyprus, Western Europe and Western Asia for its parent company.
History
The brand was created on 23 April 200 ...
and
Pegasus Airlines
Pegasus Airlines ( tr, Pegasus Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.) (), sometimes stylized as Flypgs, is a Turkish low-cost carrier headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Istanbul with bases at several Turkish airports.
History
On 1 Decemb ...
. The facility is named after
Sabiha Gökçen, adoptive daughter of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the first female
fighter pilot in the world. Although
Istanbul Airport, located west of the European side of Istanbul, is larger, Sabiha Gökçen is still
one of the largest airports in the country.
Overview
The airport was built because
Atatürk International Airport (located on the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an side) was not large enough to meet the booming passenger demands (both domestic and international). The airport opened on 8 January 2001. In June 2007, Turkish conglomerate
Limak Holding
Limak Holding A.S. is a Turkish conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, cement, and tourism. Its assets include the Limak Cement and Limak Energy companies and the Limak Tourism Group. In 2012 it had around $260m revenue from c ...
, India's
GMR Group and
Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad (MAHB) consortium gained the contract for upgrading and maintaining the airport. In mid-2008, ground was broken to upgrade the international terminal to handle 25 million passengers annually. The new terminal was inaugurated on 31 October 2009.
SAW's international terminal capacity originally was 3 million passengers per year and the domestic terminal capacity was 0.5 million passengers per year. In 2010, Sabiha Gökçen airport handled 11,129,472 passengers, a 71% increase compared to 2009. The airport was planning (in 2011) to host 25 million passengers by 2023, but has already received and handled more than 35 million passengers by 2019.
In September 2010, the airport was voted the World's Best Airport at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and received the award. The other awards received by the airport in 2010 were: Turkey's Most Successful Tourism Investment 2010, the highly commended award from Routes Europe, and the Airport Traffic Growth Award by Airline News & Network Analysis.
With 28,285,578 passengers and 206,180 aircraft movements in 2015, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is the third busiest single-runway airport in the world, after
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
and
London Gatwick
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
. However, both Mumbai and Gatwick actually have two runways and are only considered "single-runway" because they can only operate the second runway if the main one is out of use. This makes Sabiha Gökçen the world's busiest ''true'' single-runway airport.
A second runway is currently being built and is expected to be operational towards the end of 2022. The second runway will increase the hourly capacity from 40 to 80 aircraft movements.
Terminals
The new terminal building with a 25 million annual passenger capacity conducts domestic and international flights under one roof. The features and services of the new terminal and its outlying buildings include a four-storey car park with a capacity of about 4,718 vehicles + 72 bus (3.836 indoors and 882 + 72 bus outdoors), a four-storey hotel with 128 rooms, adjacent to the terminal and with separate entrances at air and ground sides, 112 check-in, 24 online check-in counters as well as a VIP building & apron viewing CIP halls with business lounges. There is also an Multi Aircraft Ramp System (MARS), allowing simultaneous service to 8 aircraft with large fuselages (IATA code E) or 16 middle-sized fuselage aircraft (IATA code C) installed. The terminal additionally features a 400 m
2 conference center, 5,000 m
2 food court, for cafés and restaurants and a
duty-free shop
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...
ping area, with a ground of 4,500 square-meters. At the international departures area, on the airside, an hourly hotel and lounge became operational in January 2020 as well. The airport's cargo terminal has a capacity of 90,000 tons per year and is equipped with 18 cold storage depots.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Sabiha Gökçen International Airport:
Cargo
Statistics
Traffic figures
Passenger development
Ground transport
Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is connected to the city of
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
and the city's wider metropolitan area through a number of transport options.
Rail
The airport is located 14 km from the district of
Pendik's railway and sea-taxi stations but a connection via
Marmaray
The Marmaray () is a intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. A rail tunnel running under the Bosphorus strait was connected to an upgraded version of the old suburban train service (known as the banliyö), allowing trains ...
is planned.
Metro
The
M4 metro line has been extended to the airport.
Shuttlebuses and coaches
Shuttlebuses E10 and E11 serve
Taksim and
Kadıköy and there are coaches to nearby towns and cities.
Car and taxi
The airport is reachable by car from the
E80 (Trans-European Motorway) which passes through the Istanbul Metropolitan Area.
Accidents and incidents
*On 23 December 2015 at approximately 2:00 AM, explosions were reported to have occurred in a parked
Pegasus Airlines
Pegasus Airlines ( tr, Pegasus Hava Taşımacılığı A.Ş.) (), sometimes stylized as Flypgs, is a Turkish low-cost carrier headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Istanbul with bases at several Turkish airports.
History
On 1 Decemb ...
aircraft, killing one cleaner and wounding another inside the plane. Five nearby planes were reported to be damaged as well. The operations were reported to continue normally soon after, however with heightened security measures in place. Three days later, it was reported that terrorist group
Kurdistan Freedom Falcons had organized the attack.
*On 7 January 2020, a plane operated as Pegasus Airlines flight 747, a Boeing 737-800, suffered a runway excursion after landing. Passengers evacuated the aircraft using slides. No fatalities or injuries occurred.
*On 5 February 2020, a Boeing 737-800, registration TC-IZK, operated as
Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193
Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Izmir to Istanbul in Turkey operated by Pegasus Airlines. On 5 February 2020, the Boeing 737-800 operating the route skidded off the runway while landing at Istanbul- Sa ...
, skidded off the end of Runway 06, leading to an airport shutdown.
There were 177 passengers and 6 crew on board. Three people were killed, another 179 were injured.
References
^ 40. Hradecky, Simon. "Incident: Pegasus B738 at Istanbul on Jan 7th 2020, runway excursion on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
External links
*
*
*
Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport Travel GuideSabiha Gökçen Havalimanı nerede(Turkish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
Airports in Istanbul
Buildings and structures in Istanbul Province
Pendik
Transport in Istanbul Province
Airports established in 2001
2001 establishments in Turkey