New terminal opens at Sabiha Gökçen International Airport

Bill Lumley

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Setur Servis Turistik will operate 5,000sq m (53,819sq ft) of duty-free shops at the new facility

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport has opened a new international terminal building, which will increase the airport’s capacity to 20m passengers a year by 2012. The construction was completed a year earlier than expected.

The terminal building has 5,000sq m (53,819sq ft) of duty-free shops, operated by Setur Servis Turistik after the company won in 2008 the 20-year contract to run the stores, and an 8,000sq m (86,111sq ft) food court. Indian conglomerate GMR Group, the lead member of the consortium responsible for managing the airport, revealed last year that Setur’s contract at the location will generate revenues equivalent to about 80% of the bid the consortium placed to win the tender.

The new terminal at Sabiha Gökçen, along with additional buildings, was opened last week with a ceremony attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Sabiha Gökçen is the smaller of the city’s two main airports and handled 4.28m passengers in 2008. Passenger numbers are expected to rise to 8.5m next year.

Setur also operates outlets at border stores, ports and inflight shops.