New Istanbul Airport awarded 5-Star rating
Rising firmly in the global aviation scene with its unique architecture, strong infrastructure, superior technology and high-level travel experience it offers, Istanbul Airport was deemed worthy of the “5-Star Airport” Award according to the evaluation of Skytrax. Thanks to the measures taken against COVID-19, Istanbul Airport became one of only two airports in the world that was certified with the “5-Star COVID-19 Airport” rating, in addition to the “5-Star Airport” rating.
As Turkey’s gateway to the world, Istanbul Airport continues to be the pride of Turkish aviation with awards won worldwide. Adding to its sequel of awards, Istanbul Airport was recently announced the “Best European Airport for Digital Transformation” as a part of “16th ACI Europe Awards”, organised by Airports Council International (ACI), thanks to the digital infrastructure and state-of-the-art technology it employs.
Certified as a “5-Star Airport” by London-based aviation institute Skytrax, which was established in 1989, Istanbul Airport was honored with worldwide recognition alongside eight other global hub airports which successfully received the title. Moreover, Istanbul Airport earned the “5-Star COVID-19 Airport” award, which has been presented specially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fourth airport in the world to achieve this 5-Star Covid-19 certification, Istanbul Airport joined Rome Fiumicino, Hamad International and El Dorado Airport in Bogota. In addition to these achievements, Istanbul Airport has gained the privilege to be the airport with the biggest terminal in the world that has “5-Star” rating. Istanbul Airport, which received the “Airport Pandemic Certificate” issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and then signed the “COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol” published by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), before the Skytrax awards, also became the first airport in the world to obtain the “Airport Health Accreditation” certificate presented by Airports Council International (ACI).
Remarking on Istanbul Airport being awarded the two major awards by the world-renowned aviation assessment company Skytrax, Kadri Samsunlu, the CEO and General Manager of İGA Airport Operation stated: “An airport being certified as both a “5-Star Airport” and a “5-Star COVID-19 Airport” by an important aviation authority like Skytrax, just two years after its opening and eighteen months after commencing its operation at full capacity, is a rare situation. I can say with pride that, as İGA, we have achieved this at Istanbul Airport. We have established a customer-oriented culture in our airport, we will advance this even further and our work in this respect is continuing at pace. We are the eighth hub airport in the world to receive “5 Stars” among the global transfer hub airports, after Doha, Hong Kong, Munich, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. We have also become the fourth airport in the world to receive the “5-Star Covid-19 Airport Rating”, in respect of the COVID-19 measures implemented at airports. We are the second airport in the world to hold both titles at the same time. As well as all of its other features, Istanbul Airport is the airport with the largest terminal among all of those with “5 Stars”. As is known, immediately prior to these important awards presented by Skytrax, we were also selected the “Best Airport” in the Digital Transformation category, within the scope of the “16th ACI EUROPE Awards”, organized by Airports Council International (ACI). All of these valuable and prestigious awards are proof of how much confidence the aviation authorities in the world and especially our passengers have in İGA and Istanbul Airport. I would like to emphasize this in particular; those who walk firmly and with bold steps for the sake of the values they believe in, sooner or later reach the goals they dream of. At Istanbul Airport, we as İGA, we turned dreams into reality first, and now reality into leadership! We are proud and happy on behalf of our country for having achieved such a success. I would like to thank everyone and all our staff, who has contributed to this achievement. With the same excitement and enthusiasm as on the first day, we will continue our efforts to make our country, and Istanbul Airport, the world’s most important aviation hub.”
