SKY Express became the 110th airline at Istanbul Airport.

The 110th airline company at Istanbul Airport is SKY Express, based in Greece. Selahattin Bilgen, CEO of IGA, the operator of Istanbul Airport, stated that they have quickly reached their target of 110 airlines for 2024, saying, “We aim to close the year with 81 million passengers. We are currently in talks to sign agreements with two more airlines. By the end of 2024, we want to surpass Bangkok Airport in the number of airlines served and become the world leader.”

Istanbul Airport, which is Turkey’s gateway to the world, welcomed its 110th airline, SKY Express, based in Greece. The airline performed its first flight today from Athens, the capital of Greece. A ceremony was held at Istanbul Airport to mark the first flight, attended by Selahattin Bilgen, CEO of IGA, the Chairman of SKY Express, Ioannis Grylosve, and other guests. SKY Express will operate reciprocal flights between Athens and Istanbul seven days a week. Passengers will have the opportunity to transfer to Greek islands such as Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu, Kos, Paros, and Heraklion on flights operated with Airbus A320 Neo aircraft.

“We plan to complete the year with 81 million passengers”

After the ceremony, Bilgen made a statement, saying, “Our discussions regarding the arrival of new airlines are ongoing. We plan to sign agreements with several airlines before the year ends. You will see those shortly. There are supply-side issues in the aviation industry due to the war situation in the Middle East, strikes at Boeing, and engine problems at Airbus. These issues have been factors limiting growth in aviation throughout the year. However, the infrastructure provided by Istanbul Airport and the increase in the number of new airlines and destinations set us apart. Considering all of these, we plan to end the year with approximately 81 million passengers. Last year, we completed it with 76 million passengers. Therefore, growth will continue. Our investments will continue unabated. We are making plans for our future capacity increase so that we can maintain this growth trend in the coming years.”

“Our goal is to be number one in the world”

Bilgen stated that they rank second in the world after Bangkok Airport in terms of the number of airlines served, saying, “At the end of last year, we mentioned that our target for this year was to reach 110 airlines. We anticipated that when we reached 110, we would be number one in the world. Our competitors are also active. At that time, Bangkok was in first place, and Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport was in second. Now we have caught up with Charles De Gaulle Airport and become second. There are actually two airlines left between us and Bangkok. If we move faster than them by the end of the year, we may have a chance to rise to first place.”