Correspondence shows contractors were given guarantee to close Ataturk Airport

About two months before the tender for the new airport, a correspondence between the State Airports Authority (DHMI) and the companies that won the tender were made. Said correspondence shows that contractors were given written guarantee that Ataturk Airport would be closed and scheduled flights from Ataturk Airport would not be made.

A secret tender was held in April for the transformation of Ataturk Airport where a hospital was built as on one of its runways during the pandemic, into a national garden, and construction equipment entered the runway last month before the contract was signed.

SCHEDULED FLIGHTS WILL NOT BE MADE

According to SOZCU newsaper, the new Istanbul Airport was awarded to the partnership formed by Cengiz, Kolin, Kalyon, Limak and Mapa for 26 billion 139 million euros on 3 May 2013.

About 2 months before this tender, in the correspondence between DHMI and the companies that won the tender, it was clearly recorded that Ataturk Airport would be closed for scheduled flights.

In the document signed by officials of DHMI at the time the following statements were used in the response to a number of questions posed to the administration with the subject title ’Istanbul New Airport Project Tender (Addendum)’:

“No new airport will be planned for Istanbul during the 25-year operating period, and there will be no scheduled flights from Ataturk Airport.”

SOURCE: diken.com.tr/yazismalardan-cikti-muteahhitlere-ataturk-havalimanini-kapatma-garantisi-verilmis/