Turkish Cargo has operated first direct freighter flight into Istanbul Airport with a Boeing 777F as part of a Shanghai-Bishkek-Istanbul route.
The freighter then took off on a Istanbul-Ashgabat-Dhaka routing. Transit shipments from Amsterdam, Paris, Guangzhou, Nairobi, arriving at Ataturk were transported to Istanbul Airport with dual hub trucks and moved flown to Ashgabat and Dhaka.
Until now, only some Turkish Airlines belly flights have been operated from the $7.4 billion Istanbul Airport which is set to open to all passenger flights from the start of April. Until now, only some Turkish Airlines belly flights have been operated from the new gateway, but next month when Istanbul Ataturk Airport will close for passenger services with freighters only flying there until the end of 2018. Turkish Cargo operates 23 freighters in addition to the cargo capacity of the passenger aircraft in the fleet of 336 aircraft of Turkish Airlines.
The cargo carrier will operate in a 165,000 square metre area in the first phase of Istanbul Airport, with capacity for four million tonnes of cargo when all phases are completed. Until the cargo carrier’s ‘Mega Cargo Hub’ is operational, cargo operations at Istanbul Airport are being carried out at a temporary satellite facility.
