The State Airports Management General Directorate (DHMİ), despite preferring to use private firms to build and renovate its airport terminals, is shouldering the burden of constructing and upgrading smaller airports in Anatolia to bring the opportunity of flight to its economically smaller provinces.
According to the Anatolia news agency, the DHMİ is setting out to renovate the infrastructure and terminals of many of the smaller airports in Turkey during the peak of the Turkish aviation sector. The DHMİ currently has 13 projects in its portfolio, all of them focused on improving the quality and capacity of airports in Anatolia.
In Balıkesir the DHMİ is working to lengthen the main runway of the airport and build a new terminal, to be finished in May. In addition to this, the runways of Erzincan Airport, soon to be designated an international airport and which has been closed since the beginning of the month, will be revamped in the span of three months, while new domestic and international terminals will be completed by the end of the year. Sivas, Kayseri, Hatay, Batman, Kars and Mardin are also set to receive new terminals.
Moreover, the DHMİ has asked five firms for bids to build a new hanger to store official government planes at Ankara Esenboğa Airport. This project is planned to be completed a year after a contract is signed.
