By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
Istanbul's new international airport is turning to one of the world’s elite travel hubs to ensure a successful start when it plans to open for business in 2017.
Seoul's Incheon International Airport will provide support to the airport - Istanbul's third - until Oct. 2020, according to the its South Korean operator Thursday.
“We ranked first for 10 consecutive years in the Airport Service Quality survey. I believe that years of our successful management is why we obtained the contract,” read a statement from Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC).
IGA Havalimani Isletmesi A.S. (IGA), which will oversee operations in Istanbul, is paying close to 6.2 million euros ($7.07 million) from a 10.8 million euro consultation deal to IIAC.
The project is also reported to incorporate the expertise of Denmark’s Copenhagen Airport in a wide range of areas - from business strategy to the everyday workings of the facility.
The new airport - planned to establish a world record annual capacity of 150 million passengers - will be located between Tayakadin and Akpinar villages near the Black Sea on the European side of Istanbul - about 35 km from Ataturk Airport.
According to the IGA website, the airport will contribute 22.2 billion euros plus VAT over 25 years to the Turkish state.
It is estimated that 100 thousand people will be directly employed there, while 1.5 million will be employed in sub-sectors.
Incheon International says it is no stranger to offering inspiration, having consulted across 10 counties over the past eight years.
South Korea’s primary port of entry has regularly been voted as among the world’s best airports by various aviation organizations across a series of measures, including customer service and cleanliness.
As well as the usual offerings like duty-free shopping, travelers passing through Incheon can play golf, go skating indoors, or relax in its gardens and spa.
But if Turkey is to benefit from the South Korean experience, iGA will have to think bigger - despite being among the world’s busiest airports, Incheon’s annual passenger count is less than a third of the planned volume of traffic through Istanbul.
