İGA, the consortium in charge of building and operating Istanbul New Airport, has signed area allocation contracts with MNG, PTT, Çelebi Ground Handling, HAVAŞ, Sistem Logistics and Bilin Logistics for the six Turkish companies to build their own facilities at the airport’s Cargo City and Ground Services Campus.

According to İGA, the contracts are worth approximately €250 million (US$288 million) and are valid for the 25-year period granted by Turkey’s General Directorate of State Airports Authority to IGA to operate the new airport.

“Turkey’s strategic location, significant investments by Turkish Airlines in the freight sector, and the developing economy of our country ensure that Turkey becomes an ever more crucial centre for air cargo transportation,” said Hüseyin Keskin, CEO of İGA Airport Operation. “Ground services, on the other hand, are highly instrumental in regards to an efficient airport operations management. At İGA, we signed off our first cargo and ground services agreements to deliver seamless services and place Istanbul, the meeting point of civilizations for centuries, at the heart of aviation. We are quite delighted about that.”

MNG, PTT, Çelebi, HAVAŞ, Sistem Logistics and Bilin Logistics will operate on an area of approximately 200,000 square metres.

A total of 1.4 million square metres of space has been allocated for cargo, including freighter parking bays and the Cargo City itself, while ground services will take up 150,000 square metres. The airport will be capable of handling 35 widebody freighter aircraft at the same time.

Istanbul Ataturk Airport handled a total of 918,000 tonnes of cargo in 2016 and is expected to handle 1 million tonnes in 2017.

“Istanbul New Airport is up to improve this capacity,” said Keskin. “Once opened, the airport will have 2.5 million tonnes of cargo capacity. Currently, the airport with the largest global cargo movement is Hong Kong Airport with a volume slightly more than 4.5 million tonnes. Yet, the Istanbul New Airport will have a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes when all its phases are complete.”

Istanbul New Airport is scheduled to open in 2018.