Sabiha Gökçen International Airport

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (IATA: SAW, ICAO: LTFJ) is one of two international airports serving Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. Located 32 km (20 mi) southeast^[1] of the city center, Sabiha Gökçen Airport is in the Asian part of the bi-continental city and serves as the hub for AJet and Pegasus Airlines. The facility is named after Sabiha Gökçen, adoptive daughter of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the first female fighter pilot in the world.^[3] Although Istanbul Airport, located 63 km (39 mi) west of the European side of Istanbul, is larger, Sabiha Gökçen is still one of the largest airports in the country.

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararası Havalimanı
IATA: SAW ICAO: LTFJ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	HEAŞ (Airport Management & Aeronautical Industries Inc)
Operator	Malaysia Airports
Serves	Istanbul, Turkey
Location	Pendik, Istanbul
Opened	8 January 2001; 23 years ago (2001-01-08)
Operating base for	AJet Pegasus Airlines
Time zone	TRT (UTC+3)
Elevation AMSL	312 ft / 95 m
Coordinates	40°53′54″N 29°18′33″E / 40.89833°N 29.30917°E / 40.89833; 29.30917
Website	www.sabihagokcen.aero
Map
SAW/LTFJ Location of airport in Istanbul province Show map of Istanbul SAW/LTFJ SAW/LTFJ (Turkey) Show map of Turkey SAW/LTFJ SAW/LTFJ (Europe) Show map of Europe SAW/LTFJ SAW/LTFJ (Asia) Show map of Asia SAW/LTFJ SAW/LTFJ (North Atlantic) Show map of North Atlantic
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06L/24R 3,000 9,843 Concrete 06R/24L 3,500 11,483 Concrete
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 30,769,728 Passenger change 21-22 24% Aircraft movements 200,034 Movements change 21-22 10%
Source: Turkish AIP at EUROCONTROL^[1] Passenger Traffic, ACI Europe^[2]

Overview

Foundation

The airport was built because Atatürk Airport (located on the European 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, 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.^[4] The airport was planning (in 2011) to host 25 million passengers by 2023,^[5][6] but has already received and handled more than 35 million passengers by 2019.

Expansion

In September 2010, the airport was voted the World's Best Airport at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London and received the award.^[7] 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.^[8]

A second runway was inaugurated on 25 December 2023.^[9] The addition of this runway will increase the hourly capacity from 40 to 80 aircraft movements, making the airport hope for double the capacity. It is also planned to build new passenger terminals between the two runways.^[10]

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 a 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 m² (4,300 sq ft) conference center, 5,000 m² (54,000 sq ft) food court, for cafés and restaurants and a duty-free shopping 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.^[11] The airport's cargo terminal has a capacity of 90,000 tons per year and is equipped with 18 cold storage depots.^{[citation needed]}

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Sabiha Gökçen International Airport:^[12]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Arabia	Abu Dhabi, Cairo,^[13] Casablanca, Sharjah, Tangier
AJet^[14]^[15]^[16]	Adana, Amsterdam, Ankara, Antalya, Baghdad, Bahrain, Baku, Barcelona,^[17] Basel/Mulhouse, Belgrade,^[18]^[19] Bergamo,^[20] Berlin, Bodrum, Brussels, Budapest,^[21] Cologne/Bonn,^[19] Copenhagen,^[19] Dalaman, Dammam, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Dubai–International, Düsseldorf, Edremit, Erbil, Ercan, Erzincan, Erzurum, Frankfurt, Gaziantep, Giza, Hamburg,^[19] Hannover,^[19] Hatay, Iğdır,^[22] İzmir, Jeddah, Kars, Kayseri, Kuwait City, London–Stansted, Lyon,^[19] Malatya, Mardin, Medina, Munich, Nevşehir, Ordu/Giresun, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pristina,^[23] Riyadh, Rize/Artvin,^[24] Rome–Fiumicino, Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Sarajevo,^[19] Sharjah,^[25] Shymkent, Sivas, Stuttgart, Tbilisi, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv (suspended),^[26] Tokat,^[27] Trabzon, Urmia,^[19] Van, Vienna, Zürich^[19]
Azerbaijan Airlines	Baku^[28]
Batik Air Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur–International^[29]
British Airways	London–Heathrow^[30]
FlyArystan	Türkıstan
Fly Baghdad	Baghdad
flydubai	Dubai–International
flynas	Gassim, Jeddah,^[31] Riyadh, Dammam
Iraqi Airways	Baghdad
Jazeera Airways	Kuwait City^[32]
Kuwait Airways	Kuwait City
Nile Air	Cairo
Pegasus Airlines	Abu Dhabi,^[33] Adana, Adıyaman,^[34] Alexandria,^[35] Almaty, Amasya/Merzifon, Amman–Queen Alia, Amsterdam, Ankara, Antalya, Astana, Athens, Baghdad, Bahrain, Baku, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Basra,^[36] Batman, Batumi,^[37] Beirut, Belgrade, Bergamo, Berlin, Bratislava (begins 15 May 2024), Birmingham,^[38] Bishkek, Bodrum, Bologna, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Casablanca,^[39] Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dalaman, Dammam, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Doha, Dortmund,^[40] Dubai–International, Düsseldorf, Edremit, Eindhoven,^[41] Elazığ, Erbil, Ercan, Erzincan, Erzurum, Frankfurt, Ganja,^[42] Gaziantep, Gazipaşa/Alanya, Geneva, Grozny, Hamburg, Hannover, Hatay^[citation needed], Helsinki, Hurghada, Iğdır,^[43] İzmir, Jeddah, Kahramanmaraş, Karachi, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Konya, Kutaisi,^[44] Kuwait City, London–Stansted, Lyon, Madrid, Malatya, Manchester,^[45] Mardin, Marseille, Medina,^[46] Munich, Muş, Muscat,^[47] Nice, Nuremberg, Ordu/Giresun, Osh,^[48] Oslo, Paris–Charles de Gaulle,^[34] Podgorica,^[49] Prague, Pristina, Ras Al Khaimah,^[50] Riyadh,^[51] Rize/Artvin, Rome–Fiumicino, Rotterdam/The Hague,^[52] Saint Petersburg,^[53] Samsun, Şanlıurfa, Sarajevo, Sharjah,^[54] Sharm El Sheikh, Shymkent, Sivas, Skopje, Sofia (resumes 1 May 2024),^[55] Stockholm–Arlanda, Stuttgart, Sulaimaniyah, Tabriz, Tbilisi, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Trabzon, Van, Venice,^[56] Vienna, Yerevan,^[57] Zagreb,^[58] Zürich Seasonal: Mytilene,^[34] Plovdiv,^[59] Rhodes^[34]
Qatar Airways	Doha
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca
SalamAir	Muscat^[60]

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Cargolux^[61]	Luxembourg
Ethiopian Cargo^[62]	Addis Ababa
MNG Airlines^[63]	Leipzig/Halle, Paris–Charles de Gaulle

Statistics

Traffic figures

 

Terminal building

 

Check-in area

 

View of the apron

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport passenger traffic statistics^[64]

Year	Domestic	% change	International	% change	Total	% change
2023	17,661,416	16%	19,368,589	25%	37,030,005	20%
2022	15,218,165	5%	15,551,563	77%	30,769,728	24%
2021	16,095,763	38%	8,805,144	67%	24,900,907	47%
2020	11,687,578	46%	5,263,612	63%	16,951,190	52%
2019	21,415,596	5%	14,057,256	21%	35,472,852	4%
2018	22,514,048	7%	11,619,569	13%	34,133,617	9%
2017	21,056,767	4%	10,329,074	9%	31,385,841	6%
2016	20,131,365	9%	9,446,370	1%	29,577,735	5%
2015	18,535,463	24%	9,576,975	12%	28,108,738	20%
2014	15,008,600	26%	8,499,541	29%	23,508,141	27%
2013	11,947,424	23%	6,694,418	35%	18,641,842	27%
2012	9,486,469	9%	5,000,773	13%	14,487,242	10%
2011	8,704,249	16%	4,420,421	20%	13,124,670	17%
2010	7,435,158	65%	3,694,314	84%	11,129,472	71%
2009	4,547,673	63%	2,092,285	33%	6,639,958	52%
2008	2,764,856	9%	1,516,337	27%	4,281,193	15%
2007	2,528,549	17%	1,191,946	56%	3,720,495	28%
2006	2,153,561	285%	762,893	66%	2,916,454	186%
2005	559,824	5,323%	459,922	96%	1,019,746	315%
2004	10,323	265%	235,278	52%	245,601	56%
2003	2,826	–	154,346	–	157,172	–

Passenger development

Annual passenger traffic at SAW airport. See Wikidata query.

Ground transport

See also: Public transport in Istanbul

 

The M4 metro line has been extended to the airport.

Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is connected to the city of Istanbul and the city's wider metropolitan area through a number of transport options.

Rail

The airport is located 14 km from the Pendik railway station and sea-taxi stations.   M10, a metro connection to   Marmaray and   Yüksek Hızlı Tren via the Pendik station is currently being built.

Metro

The   M4 metro line has been extended to the airport.

Shuttlebuses and coaches

Shuttlebus companies such as Havaist^[65] along with express public buses E10 and E11 operated by İETT^[66] serve Taksim and Kadıköy and there are coaches to nearby towns and cities.

Car and taxi

The airport is reachable by car and taxi ^[67] from the   E80 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 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.^[68] Three days later, it was reported that militant group Kurdistan Freedom Falcons had organized the attack.^[69]
• 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.^[70]
• On 5 February 2020, a Boeing 737-800, registration TC-IZK, operated as Pegasus Airlines Flight 2193, skidded off the end of Runway 06, leading to an airport shutdown.^[71] There were 177 passengers and 6 crew on board. Three people were killed, another 179 were injured.

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Turkey
• List of the busiest airports in Asia
• List of the busiest airports in the Middle East
• List of busiest airports by passenger traffic

References

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External links

  Media related to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for LTFJ at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for SAW at Aviation Safety Network
• İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Havalimanı Arası Kaç Km
• Sabiha Gökçen Take-off and landing Flights