Ground_Support_SeptemberP2019 - 29

Photo courtesy of Istanbul Airport iGA

AIRPORTS

Planning what Turkish Airlines chairman
Ilker Ayci has called "the biggest move in aviation history" involved organizing more than
100 meetings and workshops with stakeholders and government agencies to examine the
details of the GSE transfer. The airport works
with three primary ground support stakeholders: Turkish Ground Services (TGS),
Havas Ground Handling Co. and Celebi
Ground Handling Company. It also hired
three separate logistics firms to move equipment. Arkas Logistic Company moved equipment for Turkish Airlines and TGS, Hareket
Logistic Company moved Celebi units, and
Istanbul Agir Nakliyat moved Havas GSE.
"For the transfer plan, we studied in detail
each vehicle movement from ISL to IST in
15-minute movement windows. From there
we developed the Transfer Logistics Plan
with details for each vehicle and its cargo,"
say iGA officials.
The airport organized transfer trials
before the "Big Bang," as the move was also
called.
"We paid special attention to safety planning around the loading and unloading
areas to ensure safe and quick handling of
the equipment, which was key to achieving

delivery rates that met the Transfer Logistics
Plan," note iGA officials.
iGA coordinated the transfer from three
centers and set up a strong communications
plan to ensure all movement went smoothly.
"In order to meet the requirements of
passing from airside to airside, we set up a
secure corridor, using the new highway connection between Ataturk Airport and Istanbul Airport. This corridor was monitored by
police and security teams to allow trucks to
pass from airport to airport, without further
security inspection, to speed up the unloading process," iGA officials add.
Some of the equipment was too large to
pass through highway toll stations. The
airport set up an alternate route to deliver
those vehicles.
Havas moved approximately 600 pieces of
GSE to Istanbul Airport, leaving a portion of
its equipment at Ataturk for general aviation
flights and freight operations. The responsibility of moving equipment fell to ground
handlers. But Mete Erna, sales and marketing director for Havas, reports the process
was "successfully completed thanks to the
perfect cooperation among ground handlers,
authorities and logistics services suppliers."
"Havas moved its facilities at Ataturk to
the new airport within 30 hours, less than
the planned timing, by using 186 trucking rigs to transport its equipment," Erna
points out.

Larger than Life
Everything is larger than life at the new airport,
not just the size of the move.
IST or "Istanbul New" is the city's third

international airport. The old airport remains
open for cargo and VIP flights, while all other
passenger flights will take off from what is
known in some circles as the "world's new hub."
The new facility is a long time coming.
Construction began in 2015, after it was
determined the area required more air capacity serving Istanbul; and neither Ataturk nor
Sabiha Gökçen Airports could grow to meet
demand. Ataturk was already serving more
passengers than its design capacity allowed,
and its location did not allow for further
expansion. The lack of space also meant IST
could not accommodate Airbus A380s, making it the only large airport in Europe and the
Middle East that could not.
"We strive to make Istanbul the aviation
capital of the world, and take aviation into the
future," iGA officials state. "Istanbul Airport is
the key to that achievement. We want to redefine travel by making Istanbul Airport a beacon
of passenger experience and a travel destination. Also, our objective is becoming an airport
that is top choice among airline companies."
The new airport sets the region on this
path by resolving the limitations experienced
at Ataturk. Initially, it will serve an estimated
90 million passengers annually from two runways. It will eventually expand to six runways
and 16 taxiways when all phases are complete.
A Metrolink will connect the airport to central
Istanbul in 2020.
This will rank it ahead of Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International (ATL), which - as
the world's largest airport today - serves 104
million passengers a year.
"For the short term, our goal is to become
the second busiest airport in the world after

SEPTEMBER 2019

AviationPros.com

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