GMR Group first Indian company to operate airport internationally
03 Nov 2009
Istanbul, Turkey: Bangalore headquartered global infrastructure major, GMR Group, has become the first Indian company to operate an airport abroad with the formal opening of the new terminal building of the Istanbul Sabia Gokcen International airport here.
"With the opening of this airport terminal building a new era of relationship and economic partnership has begun...This has opened many more avenues for the Indian and Turkish companies to join hands," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said during the inauguration ceremony.
The terminal, built in a record time of the 18 months, was inaugurated by Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Along with Patel, Malaysian transport minister, YB Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, was also present at the ceremony.
''The new terminal building, built at the cost of Rs4,000 crore, has been designed to handle 20 million passengers as the old terminal building has been utilised to almost its full capacity,'' said GM Rao, chairman and managing director, GMR Group.
The new airport project will eventually handle 25 million passengers annually.
Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, which is being operated by the GMR Group, along with its partners Malaysian Airports Holding Berhard (MAHB) and Limak Insaat San Ve Tic AS (Limak) of Turkey, is the third airport being constructed by the GMR group after the Hyderabad and New Delhi airports.
The completion of the project also makes GMR the first Indian private sector company to have successfully completed an airport project abroad.