A new era awaits Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport. As of Thursday, a consortium led by Limak Construction, Indian GMR Infrastructure and Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad is the official operator of the airport located in Kurtköy, on the city’s Anatolian side.The consortium had submitted the highest offer worth 1,932 million euros at a tender in July to construct a new international flights terminal and run the airport. Upon signing an agreement with the Defense Ministry Thursday, Sabiha Gökçen International Airport was officially transferred to the consortium. It is expected that the airport will be transformed with new investment totaling 250 million euros.Sabiha Gökçen Airport, construction of which was complete in 2001, grabbed the attention of aviation companies that wanted to organize cheap flights when the Transportation Ministry initiated a program with the slogan of “everyone will fly.” Privatization came up with the increase in demand. The fact that Pegasus launched flights from the airport constituted the dynamic of this development. Formerly, only those living on the Anatolian side of Istanbul preferred Sabiha Gökçen Airport. However, people living on the European side of Istanbul as well as people from nearby cities such as Sakarya, Kocaeli, Bilecik, Bursa and Yalova show an interest in the airport now.The airport, which has an annual capacity to serve 3.5 billion passengers, serves two million passengers at present. Sabiha Gökçen Airport is on the list of many domestic and foreign airline companies. Turkish Airlines (THY) organizes 16 domestic flights while Pegasus organizes 18 domestic flights daily.It is expected that a finance center to be established on the Anatolian side of Istanbul will trigger activity at the airport. Kurtköy region, which is growing in line with the development of Sabiha Gökçen, hosts construction activities worth $1.5 billion. It is expected that domestic and foreign investors are eager for residential, shopping center and hotel projects will increase this amount further.Price reduction:

Meanwhile, it is claimed that prices implemented in airport operation may change with the new competition. There are diverse opinions concerning the scale of the competition following the completion of investments at Sabiha Gökçen.There will be fierce competition between Sabiha Gökçen and Atatürk Airport, influencing prices, said Yavuz Çizmeci, chairman of the Turkish Private Aviation Enterprises Association (TÖSHİD) “Thanks to the competition, prices will remain at a reasonable level,” he said.Onur Air Managing Director Şahabettin Bolukçu, on the other hand, does not expect any competition that could change balances enormously. “Competition would be possible if Sabiha Gökçen were an equivalent of Atatürk Airport and situated on the European side of Istanbul. However, there is no mutual competition in the build-operate-transfer model today. They have different potentials and different passenger figures; therefore, I do not expect competition.”Due to the lack of completion of privatization, everything was cheap at Sabiha Gökçen, said Sami Şener, managing director of TAV. “There was unfair competition. Now the purchasers of Sabiha Gökçen have to compensate what they have paid, which means an increase in prices. The real competition in equal conditions is starting now.”Sabiha Gökçen Airporthas 12 shops, three duty-free stores, three pubs and two restaurantsfeatures two runways with a capacity of 45 planeshas 28 passport desks, 16 in departures and 12 in the arrivals terminal.was used by approximately 2.2 million domestic and 800,000 international passengers in 2006.has annual capacity to serve 3.5 million passengers. The capacity will reach 10 million with the investment.Atatürk Airportspans an area of 947 hectaresis Turkey’s largest airport with three runwayshas an annual capacity to serve 20 million passengershas 23 passenger bridges, 224 check-in desks and 74 passport desksranked first in 2007 with a 34 percent share in domestic flights