newstodate.aero
Sep 27, 2018 (newstodate): It now seems confirmed that Turkey has abandoned the original idea of shifting all traffic from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to the new 3rd airport in one stroke once the new airport is officially opened on October 31, 2018.
Instead, only four routes operated by Turkish Airlines will start up at the new airport until all traffic is eventually moved away from Ataturk Airport from January 2019, leaving a few months as a transition period.
It is not clear, however, if the said four routes will be new routes, or routes moved from Ataturk Airport.
In the meantime, newstodate has obtained new information concerning cargo operations.
It remains clear that all freighter operations will remain at Ataturk Airport as of today for a certain period, so the focus is on how to handle the belly cargo and the transfer between freighter and belly traffic once operations are gradually shifting from Ataturk to the new airport.
-We have just built a cargo corridor for freighter-to-belly connections, says Turhan Ozen, Turkish Airlines CCO & Chief Cargo Officer, in a mail to newstodate.
-The two airports are less than 30 km apart. The total transit time tarmac to tarmac including handing is quite manageable, therefore we do not expect a significant decrease in connectivity, says Mr Ozen.
Instead, only four routes operated by Turkish Airlines will start up at the new airport until all traffic is eventually moved away from Ataturk Airport from January 2019, leaving a few months as a transition period.
It is not clear, however, if the said four routes will be new routes, or routes moved from Ataturk Airport.
In the meantime, newstodate has obtained new information concerning cargo operations.
It remains clear that all freighter operations will remain at Ataturk Airport as of today for a certain period, so the focus is on how to handle the belly cargo and the transfer between freighter and belly traffic once operations are gradually shifting from Ataturk to the new airport.
-We have just built a cargo corridor for freighter-to-belly connections, says Turhan Ozen, Turkish Airlines CCO & Chief Cargo Officer, in a mail to newstodate.
-The two airports are less than 30 km apart. The total transit time tarmac to tarmac including handing is quite manageable, therefore we do not expect a significant decrease in connectivity, says Mr Ozen.