19.01.2026 15:20
President Erdoğan inaugurated the third runway of Ankara Esenboğa Airport, along with the new air traffic control tower and complementary facilities. Emphasizing that Turkey has reached a distinguished position in the world, President Erdoğan stated, "Now there is a Turkey that is spoken of on every platform, whose words are awaited with curiosity, and that is followed rather than following."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made notable remarks at the opening ceremony of the Esenboğa Airport 3rd Runway, New Tower, and Complementary Facilities.
Stating, "As Turkey, we are located at the center of 67 countries with a flight duration of 4 hours. We have made Turkey one of the countries with the widest flight area in the world," Erdoğan said, "We have increased the number of active airports from 26 in 2002 to 58 today, and this number will soon rise to 60. Look how far we've come! We have increased the number of international destinations from 60 points in 50 countries to 156 points. The number of passengers traveling on domestic and international flights has exceeded 247 million. You know the state of Esenboğa Airport when we took office, right? We have turned the airport into a port for the people. In terms of passenger numbers, we have reached the 3rd place in Europe and the 7th place in the world. Our Istanbul Airport hosted approximately 84.5 million passengers last year, making it the 2nd in Europe and the 7th in the world in terms of passenger numbers," he stated.