357 million euro airport kicked off

Mersin - Reuters

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Çukurova airport was held. DHA photo

A groundbreaking ceremony for the Çukurova regional airport, in the southern city of Mersin, was held on May 28. At the initial stage the regional airport will have a capacity of 15 million passengers, but its capacity could be doubled in the future.

The tender for the project was awarded to a consortium made up of “Skyline,” owned by Koçoğlu Construction, and “Zonguldak Private Civil Aviation Co,” for 357 million euro on the basis of a build-transfer-operate model in December 2011. The consortium has taken on the right of operating the airport for nine years, 10 months and 10 days.Its representatives said yesterday that they were in talks with a number of funds from Dubai, Russia and Europe to guarantee all funding arrangements in three months.

The Turkish Transportation ministry had started the project as the Adana Airport, with a capacity of 3 million passengers, in the region could no longer meet the higher demand.