MAHB’s success in Turkey shows Malaysian firms’ capability: Dr Mahathir

Dr Mahathir Mohamad – Bernama

Istanbul: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) success in managing Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA), Turkey’s second biggest airport, shows Malaysian companies’ capability as well as their ability to expand their operations abroad, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said.

The prime minister said although MAHB operates airports in several other countries as well, ISGIA, wholly owned by the company, is the largest, handling 34 million passengers annually.

“It’s much larger than KLIA (Kuala lumpur International Airport), and its management is something special. There are people who recognise our capability in this field and give us a lot of opportunities,” he told Malaysian journalists at the end of his official visit to Turkey at ISGIA, Bernama news agency reported.

On Friday, Dr Mahathir visited ISGIA, which was taken over entirely by MAHB in 2014, and witnessed its operations.

Opened in January 2001, the airport is the second busiest in Turkey and the world’s busiest single-runway airport and terminal.

Located some 45 km from Istanbul, it recorded 16.7 million passenger traffic movements in the first half of 2019, up by 3.4 per cent over the same period last year.

In 2018, it posted 34.1 million passenger traffic movements.