German flight carrier Lufthansa expects Istanbul's third airport, which is expected to start operations in 2018, to offer new capacity for their company. Being appointed as the general manager of Lufthansa Turkey, Kemal Geçer said the third airport will be an important hub for Turkey. "Istanbul's third airport will offer new capacity for our company. We visited the airport construction site last week and received detailed information about it. It will be an important center for Turkey," Geçer said.Lufthansa is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the start of its flights to Turkey. Lufthansa started to fly from Frankfurt to Istanbul in 1956 and currently there are 27 regular flights in a week between the two countries from and to Istanbul Ataturk and Ankara Esenboğa Airport.

Emphasizing that 2016 has been a harsh year not only for Turkey but for the whole world, Lufthansa Vice President of Sales and Services for Southeast Europe, Africa and the Middle East Tamur Goudarzi-Pour said they have set their sights on making the same annual turnover as last year despite difficulties. "We have been here for 60 years and would like to continue for the next 60 years. Lufthansa started to fly to Turkey such a short time after its foundation, just 18 months. We want to continue to achieve growth," he said.

Lufthansa ordered 260 new aircrafts that are worth 36 billion euros as part of its reorganization last year. It will add new aircraft to its fleet in the upcoming period, including the single-aisle Airbus A320neo, CSeries, A350XWB and Boeing 777X.