Experienced Advisor
The Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said on June 18 that it signed a contract to provide consulting services to operate an airport currently under construction in Istanbul with the Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA) on June 17 (local time).
The consulting project is valued at 10.8 million euros (12.9 billion won or US$12.3 million), of which the IIAC will receive nearly 6.2 million euros (7.8 billion won or US$7.1 million). The IIAC formed a consortium with Copenhagen Airports International of Denmark to participate in the bid in March this year. The share of the contract is 57 percent for the IIAC and 43 percent for the Danish airport.
The Istanbul New Airport will be the world's largest airport, processing 90 million passengers per year when the first stage of construction is completed, and 150 million people after construction of the second stage. The airport is scheduled to open in 2017 as the hub airport of Turkey.
The IIAC will provide a variety of services needed before and after opening the new airport's opening until October 2020. These services include strategy and business planning development, marketing to airlines, IT strategy establishment, human resources and organizational development, trial and actual operations of the new airport, and consultancy on the development of the commercial facility.
The construction of the new Turkish airport began because the existing Ataturk Airport did not meet the needs of increasing numbers of passengers ― nearly 57 million in 2014 ― and suffered air traffic congestion.
IIAC CEO Park Wan-su said in a press release, “Istanbul has a great potential to grow as a hub airport based on its geopolitical advantages connecting Asia and Europe and rich tourism and cultural resources,” adding, "We will share our experience and expertise with Istanbul New Airport, and be sure to construct and operate the new airport successfully based on our performances of ranking first for 10 consecutive years in the Airport Service Quality survey.” He went on to stress, “We will make the project be an exemplary model of the nation's overseas business.”
In the meantime, the Istanbul Grand Airport is a consortium consisting of five builders such as Cengiz, MAPA, Limak, Kolin, and Kalyon, and obtained the right to construct the Istanbul New Airport and operate it for 25 years from the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority in 2013.