The consortium of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, GMR, Limak Insaat San. Ve Tic A S Limak and Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad MAHB inaugurated ISGIA at Istanbul in Turkey today, a full year ahead of schedule as promised to the Honourable Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Republic of Turkey during the ground breaking ceremonies on 3rd May 2008.

The airport was inaugurated by the Honourable Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Republic of Turkey in the presence of Mr Praful Patel, Honorurable Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India and YB Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, Honourable Minister of Transport, Government of Malaysia. Also present on the occasion were Mr G M Rao, Group Chairman GMR Group, Mr Nihat Ozdemir, Chairman Limak Group and Mr. Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Aris bin Othman, Chairman MAHB and other senior dignitaries.

The airport is the third airport for the Bangalore based GMR Group, which already operates India’s first Greenfield airport at Hyderabad and is constructing the world’s second largest airport in Delhi.The brand new international terminal, designed to handle 20 million passenger capacity was constructed for a total cost of 451 million Euros INR 3143.50 cores approx for a concession period of 20 years.

The salient features of the new airport are as follows

The terminal is twice the size of the new Hyderabad Airport

It is 3.5 times the size of the new Bangalore Airport

• Completed in a near world record time of 18 months without compromising any safety or quality standards.
• The terminal and allied buildings comprise of
• Total floor space of 2 million m²

• A four level car park for 4700 cars
• A 128 room hotel
• A brand new VIP terminal
• 2 CIP lounges for Business Class passengers
• The largest Duty Free area of 4500 m²

• A restaurant and cafe area spanning 5000 m²
• The technical features of the new terminal are truly world class
• Constructed to withstand Zone 5 Seismic activity even though Istanbul is located in Zone 1

• The best in class IT systems
• Fully automated baggage handling system
• Latest security systems with over 1000 cameras

All the above has been achieved in a record time of 18 months even though as per the concession Agreement we had to do this in 30 months. During the ground breaking ceremony on 3rd May 2008 the Hon Prime Minister of Turkey had requested the three partners to complete the project in time for the 86th Republic Day of the Republic of Turkey and the promise has been delivered. The important aspect is that this stupendous achievement has been done without compromising on quality or safety.

This confluence of three nations and three partners has been unique.

• LIMAK brought in domain knowledge and strong Construction capabilities.
• GMR brought in the Developers capabilities besides engineering and electrical equipment knowledge and most importantly airport specific IT systems.
• MAHB brought in robust Operations capabilities coupled with their experience of running over 30 airports.

The airport will commence commercial operations on 9th November 2009 with Turkish Airlines initiating its international flights from ISGIA to seven new European destinations namely Moscow, London, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, Cologne, Berlin, Hannover. ISGIA has seen greater 70 percent growth in passenger traffic in the past few months and will eventually target to increase the passenger traffic by at least 40 percent of the present capacity by 2010.

Other than terminal operations ISGIA will also provide

• Ground Handling services to more than 2500 aircrafts per month

• Cargo handling capabilities for 1000 tons of domestic and international cargo every month
• Fuel services to airlines at the airport with an additional 15000 tons of fuel to airlines each month
• The airport will thus provide direct employment opportunities to over 1500 employees and indirectly to several others through the outsourcing route.