Istanbul: S.Gokcen airport eyes 24M more passengers

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's second-largest airport, and the 12th-largest in Europe, is looking to boost its total passenger capacity to 65 million annually by building a new terminal building in 2020.

"We look forward to see our second runway and metro connection, which carries great importance for us in order for serving our rising number of passengers," Ersel Goral, the CEO of Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport Investment Development and Operation (ISG), said in a statement on Thursday.

He said the airport wants to lay the foundation for a new terminal building in 2020, a facility set to boost annual passenger capacity from 41 million to 65 million.

The airport, located on the Asian side of the metropolis of Istanbul, served over 36 million passengers last year. It is also world's busiest single-runway and single-terminal airport.

Some 240 million passengers have gone through the airport over the last decade.

From 2009 to 2015, it also earned the title of Europe’s fastest-growing airport.

The airport's terminal building was built to withstand an 8.0 earthquake, making it one of the top five most earthquake-resistant airports in the world.