News
Turkish Cargo to remain at Ataturk in short term
December 7th 2018
Turkish Airlines will operate a dual cargo hub in Istanbul for the time being, senior vice president for cargo, Fatih Cigal, has told Asia Cargo News. Read More » The state-controlled airline will channel its belly hold cargo through the recently inaugurated Istanbul Airport, while its Turkish Cargo full-freighter operations will remain at Ataturk Airport until the new airport is ready to accommodate the extra throughput.
Turkish Airlines hopes to become the world’s leading freight forwarder within the next decade. Last week, Turkish announced an order for three more B777 freighters as the flag carrier continues to expand on record financial results and double-digit passenger and cargo growth.
Last January, the carrier ordered three B777Fs. Two months later, the state-controlled carrier finalized its commitment for 25 B787-9s with five options and 25 A350-900s, also with five options.
Turkish Cargo has ten A330-200Fs and four B777s (plus four on order) and is wet-leasing three B747-400Fs and three A310Fs.
“Cargo is important. With a cargo capacity of 4.5 million tonnes annually at the new airport, we will very soon be in competition with the likes of Hong Kong,” IGA CEO, Kadri Samsunlu, said at the opening of Istanbul Airport in October. “We will have the capacity to handle 30 cargo planes at a time,” Samsunlu added.
IGA, a Turkish consortium under state control and the third largest asset holder in the country, was awarded the contract for the US$10.5 billion construction of the 25-year operation in 2013.
