Preparations at Istanbul New Airport, Turkey, are well underway ahead of its scheduled opening on October 29, 2018.
İGA-İstanbul New Airport, the airport operator, has devised 46 scenarios with 105 different subjects and events to be examined as part of its operational readiness and airport transfer (ORAT) training. These scenarios will be trialled in the lead up to the launch, assisted by the participation of 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000 volunteers who will play the part of regular passengers in the trial events.
The purpose of the ORAT procedures is to evaluate the general readiness of facilities, systems, equipment and trained operation personnel, as well as to gather last-minute feedback from the general public.
H Kadri Samsunlu, CEO and general manager of İGA-İstanbul New Airport, said, “We will carry out three major trials in the coming month for operational preparation. A total of 9,000 people and 10 real planes will be used.
“The transfer to İstanbul New Airport will be the biggest ever airport transfer in the world as no other airport has been transferred further than 45km (28 miles). Since 2016, we have been meticulously carrying out our work regarding the transfer to İstanbul New Airport.
“At this point, we have finished training the airlines, particularly Turkish Airlines, ground services, and other stakeholders, all to ensure their orientation to the airport in the operation preparation process.”
The airport has been consulting with Copenhagen and Incheon Airports since November 2016 as part of the ORAT project. The ORAT team includes eight consultants, 60 specialists and 100 operational staff, all with aviation experience from airports, airlines or ground handling procedures.
The training stage of ORAT consisted of four stages and included 27,522 class training sessions and 28,225 field training sessions with executives and employees of Turkish Airlines, HAVAŞ, ÇELEBİ, and Turkish Ground Services.
The three trial events are:
– First trial operation (last week of September): 1,000 trial passengers, 2,000 trial pieces of luggage, around 800 staff members from operational stakeholders and public institutions, two real planes (Turkish Airlines) and 50 ground service equipment vehicles.
– Second trial operation (first week of October): 3,000 trial passengers, 6,000 trial pieces of luggage, around 1,000 staff members from operational stakeholders and public institutions, three real planes (Turkish Airlines) and 150 ground service equipment vehicles.
– Third trial operation (second week of October): 5,000 trial passengers, 10,000 trial pieces of luggage, around 1,000 staff members from İGA, operational stakeholders and public institutions, five real planes and 200 ground service equipment vehicles.
The operational testing of IT systems is ongoing and includes structural fiber and copper cabling, the wireless network, physical security system, flight information system, terminal management system, check-in and boarding systems, enterprise resource planning, the airport operational control center, baggage reconciliation and sorting systems, and local departure control systems.
For more on ORAT, read our exclusive feature from the March 2015 issue of PTW by clicking here.
