Türkiye on Monday inaugurated a new runway of its second-biggest airport, seeking to expand the capacity at the facility that has been facing challenges in coping with the growing air and passenger traffic.

The new runway, the second biggest in the country, is estimated to more than double the traffic capacity at Sabiha Gökçen, the third busiest airport in Türkiye after the landmark Istanbul Airport and Antalya Airport in the southern resort town.

"Sabiha Gökçen Airport plays critical roles in terms of development in business and tourism. We have observed that the airport has been having difficulty meeting the increasing passenger and air traffic," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, indicating the need for infrastructural upgrades.

The airport on Istanbul’s Anatolian side managed some 181,000 flights and served about 25 million passengers in 2021. This figure rose to 31 million in 2022.

The January-November arrivals this year left the whole of 2022 behind, as Sabiha Gökçen reached a record passenger count of 34 million and managed some 208,000 flights.

"We anticipate surpassing 37 million passengers by the end of the year," Erdoğan told the opening ceremony.

Sabiha Gökçen Airport noted that it will reach a capacity to serve more than 85 million passengers a year.

The decision to construct the second runway was made in 2012. The president said that the project has been implemented with an investment of some $970 million.

"The existing runway has reached its capacity. There are 700-750 flights daily," Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.

The new runway can accommodate the world’s widest-bodied aircraft for landing, Uraloğlu noted.

Spanning a length of 3,540 meters and a width of 60 meters, it boasts three parallel taxiways measuring 3,520 meters, 3,000 meters and 2,700 meters, respectively.

"To maximize air traffic capacity, the new runway will be used for landings, while the existing one will be utilized for take-offs," Erdoğan said.

"The airport’s traffic will double with the new runway."

Uraloğlu cited the comprehensive modernization of all superstructure facilities covering 19,000 square meters, including a middle apron with a capacity for 62 aircraft, a cargo apron with a capacity for 40 aircraft, and facilities such as the air traffic control tower, a technical block, fire brigade and garage building.

The minister highlighted Türkiye’s ascent in the rankings of total passenger traffic in 2022, ranking third among European countries and sixth globally. He further noted that in terms of passenger traffic, three airports in Türkiye are within the top 20 in Europe and the top 50 worldwide.

With its strategically advantageous position in the middle of Asia, Europe and Africa, Uraloğlu said Türkiye has an advantageous location at the center of 67 countries and is situated along flight routes between developed and developing markets home to 1.4 billion people living within a four-hour flight radius and boasting $8.6 trillion trade volume.

"This makes our country highly suitable to become the world’s transit hub in the aviation field," the minister added.

Türkiye has injected hundreds of billions of dollars to expand and upgrade its infrastructure over the last two decades, which saw the number of its airports reach 57, from 26 in 2002. Construction is ongoing at three other airports, according to Uraloğlu.

Its vast Istanbul Airport, Türkiye’s largest and one of the biggest civil aviation hubs in the world, was officially opened in late October 2018 before becoming fully operational in April 2019.

The gleaming glass-and-steel structure along the Black Sea coast has managed to turn into one of the most important transit centers in aviation ever since.

As air traffic rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic, facilities across the country served nearly 200 million passengers from January through November this year, according to State Airports Authority General Directorate (DHMI) data.

The figure marked an 18% year-over-year increase, exceeding the pre-pandemic level of 195.5 million.

Istanbul Airport alone served 70.4 million passengers this January-November, a 19% year-over-year increase.

The hub can handle 90 million passengers a year in the current phase. While it is a high figure, it is nothing compared to its potential capacity to serve 200 million after completing all phases, making it the world’s largest.

All four phases of the airport’s construction and expansion, including six runways, are expected to be completed by 2028.

The 2022 passenger count in Türkiye stood at 182.3 million, soaring 42.1% from the previous year. Total air traffic jumped 28.4% to 1.88 million aircraft every year.

"We will have served about 216 million passengers this year. Our current capacity nationwide is around 337 million. There will be a significant increase in 2024, and we have planned the infrastructure for it," Uraloğlu said.