President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is due to inaugurate the expanded international airport serving the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is said to become the country's "window to the world."
The launch of the new runway and a terminal building of the Ercan Airport in a ceremony in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) on Thursday coincides with the 49th anniversary of Türkiye's military operation conducted to protect the Turkish population on the Eastern Mediterranean island.
"Ercan Airport will be the TRNC's window to the world," said Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arikli, adding that the 450 million euro ($504.66 million) expansion would raise the facility's annual passenger capacity to 10 million.
"But with additional investment, this can rise to 15 million. So, we can call this an investment that will carry us into the 2050s," Arikli told Anadolu Agency (AA).
The island of Cyprus has been mired in a decadeslong dispute between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the United Nations to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety. In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aiming at Greece's annexation led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence.
The TRNC was founded in 1983. It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece and the United Kingdom.
Arikli elaborated that initially, Ercan Airport's annual passenger capacity, currently at 4 million, may increase to as much as 8 million after the new terminal and runway are brought online and ticket prices fall.
It will also generate about 30 million euros in annual public revenue, he added.
Test flights have been completed and a plane carrying Erdoğan from his three-stop Gulf tour will perform the first landing at the airport on Thursday, Türkiye's Transport and Infrastructure Ministry said in a separate statement.
The expanded facility with the new terminal building will "change the face of the island," said Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
"Ercan Airport will also host wide-body aircraft with its increasing facilities and capabilities," Uraloğlu added.
The new runaway spans 3,100 meters (10,170 feet), compared to the existing one of 2,755 meters.
The airport boasts a parking area for a total of 30 aircraft. It will feature an indoor parking lot with a capacity of 1,500 vehicles and state-of-the-art new equipment. The facility is expected to make a significant contribution to the country's tourism and economy.
