Çukurova International Airport

Çukurova International Airport

Çukurova Uluslararası Havalimanı
Çukurova International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerDHMİ
OperatorState Airports Administration (Turkish: Devlet Hava Meydanları İşletmesi (DHMİ)
ServesMersin, Adana, Osmaniye
LocationTarsus, Mersin, Turkey
Opened10 August 2024; 4 months ago (2024-08-10)
Operating base forPegasus Airlines
Elevation AMSL6 m / 19 ft
Coordinates36°53′49″N 35°04′03″E / 36.89694°N 35.06750°E / 36.89694; 35.06750
Websitehttps://cukurovaairport.aero/
Map
COV/LTDB is located in Turkey
COV/LTDB
COV/LTDB
Location of airport in Turkey
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03L/21R 3,500 11,482 Concrete
03R/21L 3,500 11,482 Concrete

Çukurova International Airport (IATA: COV, ICAO: LTDB) is an airport in the Tarsus district of Mersin Province, southern Turkey. It serves the provinces of Mersin, Adana and Osmaniye, as well as the rest of the region of Çukurova.[1] The airport was built in order to replace its predecessor Adana Şakirpaşa Airport due to the old airport’s location of being in the city centre, and had no room to expand or be modernised.

Location

The new airport was constructed at the west of Karasavran village between Çiçekli and Kargılı in Tarsus district of Mersin Province. The distance from the airport to Yenice, the main railroad junction is 7 km (4.3 mi), to Çukurova Motorway is 14 km (8.7 mi), and to Tarsus is about 20 km (12 mi). The airport is close to another project, the Kazanlı Coast Tourism Project, within the scope of Tourism centers of Mersin Province.[2]

Çukurova is a region in mid-south Turkiye which includes the historical Cilicia of the antiquity. The Turkish provinces of Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye as well as a part of Hatay are in Çukurova. These provinces were being served by Adana Şakirpaşa Airport in the urban fabric of Adana city. However, the increasing air traffic necessitates a higher capacity airport.

History

The construction contract was signed on 26 January 2012. According to a statement made by Binali Yıldırım, Minister of Communications, Maritime affairs and Telecommunications, it is a build-operate-transfer project. The undertaker is a consortium of "Skyline" and "Zonguldak Özel Sivil Havacılık". The builders have the right to operate the airport for a term of nine years and ten months.[1] The minister added that the airport will have international status and will so help to increase the export of the region and the number of tourists.[3] According to the newspaper Hürriyet, the project's cost will be 357 million Euro. When finished, it will serve to 15 million people, and the capacity will be doubled in the future.[4]

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on 28 May 2013.[5] In the ceremony, then-Minister of Transport Binali Yıldırım explained that the location of the airport was carefully chosen to serve both Adana and Mersin.

The formal opening ceremony of the new airport took place on 10 August 2024.[6] Adana Şakirpaşa Airport closed at 00:00 on 11 August 2024 to all commercial airlines, and Çukurova Airport opened at 12:00 on 11 August 2024.[7] The inauguration was done by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[8]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo[9]
AJet Ankara, Beirut,[10] Ercan,[11] Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[12]
Corendon Airlines Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,[13] Düsseldorf, Nuremberg[13]
Eurowings Seasonal: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg[14]
Fly Kıbrıs Airlines Ercan[15]
Pegasus Airlines Antalya, Bodrum, Düsseldorf, Ercan, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, İzmir, Trabzon, Van
Qatar Airways Seasonal: Doha
SunExpress[16] Antalya, Bursa,[17] Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, İzmir, Samsun,[17] Stuttgart, Trabzon,[18] Van[17]
Seasonal: Amsterdam, Berlin,[19] Brussels, Hannover, London–Stansted,[20] Munich[18]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Seasonal: Berlin

Traffic statistics

Annual passenger traffic at COV airport. See Wikidata query.
Çukurova İnternational Airport passenger traffic statistics[21]
Year (months) Domestic % change International % change Total % change
2024 (Nov.) 1,140,399 - 354,401 - 1,494,800 -

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "News from Turkey-Private sector to build second airport in southern Turkey". Invest. 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  2. ^ "Çukurova Bölgesel Havaalanı Projesi" (in Turkish). Tarsus. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  3. ^ "Çukurova Havaalanı sözleşmesi imzalandı" (in Turkish). Ihlas agency. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  4. ^ "Çukurova Havaalanı 357 milyon Euro'ya yapılacak 30 milyon yolcuyu bulacak". Hürriyet (in Turkish). 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  5. ^ Airtimes news (in Turkish)
  6. ^ "Çukurova Havalimanı'nın açılış tarihi belli oldu". 19 July 2024.
  7. ^ "10 Ağustos'ta Adana Şakirpaşa Havalimanı kapatılıyor! Uçuşlar yeni havalimanına aktarılacak". 3 August 2024.
  8. ^ AA, Daily Sabah with (2024-08-11). "Türkiye inaugurates its new Çukurova International Airport". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
  9. ^ "Aeroflot Adds Moscow - Adana Service From June 2023". AeroRoutes. 12 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  10. ^ Liu, Jim (6 October 2020). "Anadolu Jet adds Adana – Beirut service from mid-Oct 2020". routesonline.com.
  11. ^ "AJet NS24 New Flight Number Designations – 12MAR24".
  12. ^ "AJet NS24 New Flight Number Designations – 12MAR24". Aeroroutes.
  13. ^ a b Liu, Jim (27 January 2020). "Corendon Airlines S20 Network expansion". routesonline.com.
  14. ^ "Eurowings Adds New Turkish Routes in NS23".
  15. ^ "Fly Kıbrıs Hava Yolları 5 Eylül'den itibaren Kıbrıs'a uçuşlara başlıyor !".
  16. ^ "SunExpress flight connections 04/2022 - 10/2022" (PDF).
  17. ^ a b c "SunExpress'ten kış sezonunda iç hatlarda 11 yeni rota".
  18. ^ a b "SunExpress NW24 Domestic Network Additions – 21APR24".
  19. ^ "SunExpress NS23 Network Additions – 30OCT22".
  20. ^ "SunExpress NS24 Network Expansion – 24SEP23".
  21. ^ "Statistics".

36°53′59″N 35°03′46″E / 36.89967°N 35.06287°E / 36.89967; 35.06287