Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport (IATA: GZP, ICAO: LTFG) is an airport in service in the Gazipaşa, Anamur, Alanya, Kargıcak, Kestel, Payallar, Avsallar, Okurcalar, Kızılağaç and Side areas of the Antalya Province in Turkey. The airport opened for domestic flights in July 2010 with daily flights from Istanbul with Bora Jet. International flights began in the 2011 holiday season, with flights from Amsterdam. The new airport is only 30 minutes by road from Alanya compared to a travel time of two hours between Alanya and Antalya Airport, which was previously the nearest airport, 120 km away.
The airport was finished in 1999, but it was not opened for operation. Talks were held in 2006, with reports commissioned by the national government, local government, and tourist organizations to commence operation. Finally, the decision was made clear in 2007 after multiple bids had been submitted to award operation to Tepe Akfen Ventures Airports Holding (TAV), which paid $50,000 a year, and a 65% share in profit for the right to operate the airport for 25 years. TAV then updated and expanded the airport, including lengthening the runway to 2,350m in order to handle international operations, among other things.
The airport has an annual passenger capacity of 1,500,000 passengers, a terminal area of 6,700 square meters and a parking lot with a capacity of 105 vehicles.
Dutch low-cost airline Transavia (chartered by touroperator Neckermann) was the first international airline to operate flights to and from Gazipasa airfield. It uses a small Boeing 737-700 (149 passengers), or sometimes brings a bigger Boeing 737-800 aircraft (189 passengers) to the airport, with flights leaving every Wednesday from 27 April 2011 till the end of October 2011, and from 2 July 2011 also on Saturdays.
In 2012, Transavia, Corendon Airlines, Tailwind Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Pegasus Airlines operated GZP flights from Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Billund, Oslo and Istanbul. The airport welcomed 85,000 passengers in 2012.
Gazipasa-Alanya Airport welcomed 360,000 passengers in 2013. Thomas Cook Scandinavia, Small Planet Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Transavia Airlines, Tailwind Airlines, Corendon Airlines, Jettime and Sunexpress operated to GZP from numerous European destinations. In addition, Pegasus Airlines and Anadolujet connect GZP to Istanbul (SAW) and Ankara (ESB) respectively with frequent domestic flights.
The route network of GZP will expand further and exceed 600,000 in 2014 with the addition of new airline companies expected to operate to GZP such as Onur Air, Finnair and TUIfly Nordic. With the infrastructural enhancements at the airport, a wider range of aircraft including A320-200 and B737-800 are now capable to operate GZP flights.
