'5 Years Ago, It was Foreseen That Planes Couldn't Land in İstanbul Airport Due to Winds'

* Photo: İGA

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As several flights were cancelled at İstanbul Airport due to bad weather conditions holding out in the city, Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul MP Gürsel Tekin has submitted a Parliamentary inquiry and requested that a Parliamentary investigation be launched into the airport.

In his inquiry, Tekin has underlined that since the new airport entered into service, difficulties of takeoff and landing experienced by airplanes due to its physical conditions have been constantly coming up. Accordingly, the MP has requested a Parliamentary investigation so that the risks could be eliminated and necessary precautions could be taken.

Referring to the data collected by the Flightradar24 website, Tekin has indicated that İstanbul Airport is the second airport with the highest number of delayed flights across the world.

Delayed flights, long aircraft taxi times

CHP MP Tekin has briefly stated the following in his inquiry:

"With the objections of professional organizations and non-governmental organizations overlooked, İstanbul Airport keeps being debated in all aspects from its project phase till today. And the objections raised years ago are now turning out to be true one by one.

"The planes that are unable to land due to adverse weather conditions or that have delayed and dangerous landings are still at the center of these debates. The times spent by the planes on land, or their taxi times, are also a matter of debate now. While flight landings delay for 37 minutes on average, takeoffs delay for an average of 47 minutes.

"The document entitled 'Technical Report on 3rd Airport' indicates that the weather is stormy for 107 days and cloudy in 65 days in a year. Indicating that planes must take off and land against the wind, the report highlights that the runways of the new airport were not built by taking the predominant wind directions into consideration.

'It was foreseen five years ago'

"In the report prepared by professional organizations, it was foreseen five years ago that planes cannot land in that airport due to winds. If the planes land in Çorlu, instead of the biggest airport of the world, then we need to say that there is a problem. If the planes had not managed to land and not had enough fuel, what would have been the result? A great catastrophe!

"As the meteorological condition is obvious, it needs to immediately investigated whether this airport can properly operate or not. For that reason, there is a need for a Parliamentary investigation with the aim of asking the opinions of all relevant scientists, professional chambers, experts, institutions and organizations again and eliminating any risks that could arise.

"Accordingly, we request that a Parliamentary investigation be launched as per the Article 98 of the Constitution and the Articles 104 and 105 of our Bylaw so that the risks could be eliminated and necessary precautions could be taken." (HA/SD)