Ankara Esenboğa Airport

Ankara Esenboğa Airport (IATA: ESB, ICAO: LTAC) is an international airport of Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. In 2024, the airport has served more than 12 million passengers in total, 9 million of which were domestic passengers. It ranked 4th in terms of total passenger traffic (after Istanbul Airport, Sabiha Gökçen Airport and Antalya Airport), 3rd in terms of domestic passenger traffic (after Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport) among airports in Turkey^[3] as well as one of the busiest airports in the Middle East. The airport was ranked 22nd in the "100 Things That Give Hope in Turkey" list published in the 100th issue of Newsweek Turkey magazine.^{[citation needed]}

Ankara Esenboğa Airport Ankara Esenboğa Havalimanı
IATA: ESB ICAO: LTAC
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	General Directorate of State Airports (DHMİ)
Operator	TAV Airports Holding
Serves	Ankara, Turkey
Opened	1955; 70 years ago (1955)
Hub for	AJet Pegasus Airlines Turkish Airlines
Elevation AMSL	3,125 ft / 953 m
Coordinates	40°07′41″N 032°59′42″E
Website	www.esenbogaairport.com
Map
ESB/LTAC Location within Turkey
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03C/21C 3,750 12,303 Asphalt 03L/21R 3,400 11,125 Asphalt 03R/21L Asphalt
Statistics (2024)
Passengers 12,853,024 Passenger change 2023–24 8% Aircraft movements 96,882 Movements change 2023–24 4%
Source: Turkish AIP at EUROCONTROL[1] Passenger Traffic, ACI Europe[2]

Overview

The airport is located northeast of Ankara, 28 km (17 mi) from the city center. The airport is connected with Kızılay (the city center) and Ankara Intercity Bus Terminal (Turkish: Ankara Şehirlerarası Terminal İşletmesi, AŞTİ) by EGO city bus number 442 (from 6 am to 11pm). Transportation to the city center is also by taxi (around TRY 900 one way, metered) and through the Havaş bus line (approximately TRY 120 one way). The road between Esenboğa airport and the Ankara ring road was expanded during the summer of 2006, decreasing the driving time between the city center and the airport by several minutes.^{[citation needed]}

The name of the airport comes from the village of Esenboğa, which literally means "Windflowing Bull" or "Serene Bull", the modernized form of Isen Buqa, the name of a Turkic warlord in the army of Timur who settled his troops here during the Battle of Ankara in 1402.^[4]

Esenboğa International Airport was awarded as the best airport in Europe by ACI Europe (Airport Council International) and the award presented to airport officials on 17 June 2009 in Manchester. The award is given in 4 categories every year and Esenboğa was in 5–10 million per annum category. It is the first time an ACI award was granted to a Turkish Airport.^[5] According to ACI-Europe, "As with number of the top candidates in this category, the airport excels in all the keys areas of operations, however the judges singled it out for its work in the area of environmental innovation, securing an incredible 25% energy savings stemming from its recycling of exhaust gases to power its air conditioning plants." In 2020, Esenboğa Airport was awarded as the best European airport with a capacity of 15 – 25 million passengers by Airports Council International.^[6]

A new parallel runway is under construction to the east of the terminal building. Upon the completion, the current runway 03R/21L will be resigned as 03C/21C and the new runway will receive the latter's former designation.^[7]

Terminals

Esenboga Airport Domestic and International Terminal constructed under "Build-Operate-Transfer" model has been completed. Esenboga Airport current Terminal, which went into operation on October 16, 2006, with a capacity of 10 million passengers, are spread over a 182,000 square metres (1,960,000 sq ft) area.^[8] A new general aviation terminal with 469 m² (5,048 sq ft) area has been opened in January 2012 to service private and business jets.^{[citation needed]}

The new terminal, opened in 2006, feature 168,000 m² (1,808,337 sq ft) area, 10,000,000 passenger/year capacity, 18 ea. passenger bridges, 105 check-in counters, 34 passport counters, a parking facility with 123,000 m² (1,323,961 sq ft) area and 4,000 vehicles capacity.^{[citation needed]}

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Ankara Esenboğa Airport:

Airlines	Destinations
Air Albania	Seasonal: Tirana[9]
Air Serbia	Belgrade[10][11]
AJet[12]	Adana/Mersin,[13][14] Adıyaman,[15] Ağrı,[13] Almaty,[16] Amman–Queen Alia,[17] Amsterdam,[17] Antalya,[13] Astana,[16] Baghdad,[18] Baku,[13] Barcelona (begins 24 October 2025),[19] Batman,[13] Beirut, Belgrade,[13] Berlin,[15] Bingöl,[13] Bishkek,[13][20] Bodrum,[13] Bursa, Cairo,[21] Çanakkale,[13] Dalaman,[13] Damascus,[22] Diyarbakır,[13] Dubai–International,[13][23] Düsseldorf,[15] Edremit,[13] Elazığ,[15] Ercan,[13] Erzincan,[13] Erzurum,[17] Frankfurt,[15] Gaziantep,[13] Gazipaşa/Alanya,[13] Hakkari,[13] Hatay,[13] Iğdır,[13] Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen,[13] İzmir,[13] Jeddah, Kahramanmaraş,[13] Kars,[13] London–Stansted,[15] Madrid (begins 23 October 2025),[19] Malatya,[13] Mardin,[13] Medina, Moscow–Vnukovo, Muş,[13] Ordu/Giresun,[13] Paris–Charles de Gaulle,[13] Rize/Artvin,[13][24] Samsun,[13] Şanlıurfa,[13] Siirt,[15] Şırnak,[13] Tashkent,[25] Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Tokat, Trabzon,[13] Van,[13] Vienna[13] Seasonal: Brussels,[26] Cologne/Bonn,[15] Geneva,[13] Hamburg, Munich,[15] Skopje,[27] Stockholm–Arlanda,[17] Stuttgart[15][28]
Ariana Afghan Airlines	Kabul
Azerbaijan Airlines	Baku
Caspian Airlines	Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Corendon Airlines[29]	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,[30] Düsseldorf,[30] Nuremberg[30]
FlyArystan	Astana
Fly Baghdad	Baghdad, Erbil
Flydubai	Dubai–International[31]
Fly Kıbrıs Airlines	Ercan[citation needed]
Iraqi Airways	Baghdad, Erbil, Kirkuk[32]
Kam Air	Kabul
Mahan Air	Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Pegasus Airlines	Almaty,[33] Amman–Queen Alia,[34] Antalya,[34] Baku,[35] Bodrum,[34] Bucharest–Otopeni,[36] Cologne/Bonn,[34] Çorlu,[34] Dubai–International, Düsseldorf,[34] Erbil, Ercan,[34] Frankfurt,[34] Hamburg,[34][37] Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen,[34] İzmir,[38] Jeddah,[39] Kraków,[40] London–Stansted,[34] Medina, Sharjah, Stockholm–Arlanda,[41] Stuttgart,[34] Tbilisi,[42] Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Vienna,[34] Warsaw–Chopin[43] Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse,[44] Berlin,[43] Copenhagen,[45] Lisbon,[46][47] Moscow–Domodedovo[38]
Qatar Airways	Doha
Qeshm Air	Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Saudia	Jeddah, Medina
Sepehran Airlines	Tehran–Imam Khomeini[48]
SunExpress[49]	Düsseldorf,[34][50] Frankfurt,[34] Hannover,[51] Munich[52][51] Seasonal: Amsterdam,[51] Berlin,[53] Brussels,[54] Cologne/Bonn,[51][55] Copenhagen,[56] Hamburg,[53] Stockholm–Arlanda,[53] Stuttgart,[51] Tbilisi,[57] Vienna,[58] Zürich[59]
Transavia	Paris–Orly[60][61]
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul[62]
UR Airlines	Baghdad[63]
Uzbekistan Airways	Tashkent[64]

Statistics

Interior view

Interior view

Passengers

Annual passenger traffic at ESB airport. See Wikidata query.

Ankara–Esenboğa International Airport Passenger Traffic Statistics^[3]

Year	Domestic	% change	International	% change	Total	% change
2024	9,623,337	5%	3,229,687	14%	12,853,024	8%
2023	9,123,505	35%	2,827,435	47%	11,950,940	38%
2022	6,756,212	18%	1,923,382	48%	8,679,594	23%
2021	5,728,315	30%	1,301,315	74%	7,029,630	36%
2020	4,415,805	61%	746,764	67%	5,162,569	62%
2019	11,463,200	21%	2,277,395	2%	13,740,595	18%
2018	14,498,102	5%	2,241,901	13%	16,740,003	6%
2017	13,828,365	20%	1,988,793	33%	15,817,158	21%
2016	11,547,240	9%	1,496,876	3%	13,044,116	8%
2015	10,562,282	10%	1,551,157	7%	12,113,439	10%
2014	9,591,350	2%	1,444,256	8%	11,035,606	1%
2013	9,369,832	22%	1,572,228	1%	10,942,060	18%
2012	7,679,371	8%	1,593,737	13%	9,273,108	9%
2011	7,080,072	10%	1,405,395	6%	8,485,467	9%
2010	6,435,211	29%	1,328,693	21%	7,763,914	28%
2009	4,990,134	12%	1,094,270	12%	6,084,404	7%
2008	4,444,311	23%	1,247,822	8%	5,692,133	15%
2007	3,609,122	10%	1,349,006	7%	4,958,128	9%
2006	3,287,585	25%	1,259,993	6%	4,547,578	19%
2005	2,640,604	23%	1,189,250	5%	3,829,854	17%
2004	2,141,047	21%	1,134,678	12%	3,275,725	18%
2003	1,773,531	2%	1,010,396	1%	2,783,927	2%
2002	1,814,563		1,022,065		2,836,628

Movements

Ankara Esenboğa International Airport Aircraft Movement Statistics

Year	Domestic	% change	International	% change	Total	% change
2024	71,541	3%	25,341	9%	96,882	4%
2023	69,762	29%	23,312	34%	93,074	30%
2022	53,926	2%	17,429	23%	71,355	7%
2021	52,753	28%	14,160	56%	66,913	33%
2020	41,321	48%	9,073	55%	50,394	49%
2019	78,871	21%	20,371	4%	99,242	17%
2018	100,258	1%	19,513	6%	119,771	2%
2017	99,384	11%	18,453	14%	117,837	12%
2016	89,458	8%	16,152	3%	105,610	7%
2015	82,852	5%	15,758	0%	98,610	4%
2014	78,712	2%	15,706	6%	94,418	2%
2013	80,107	16%	16,711	1%	96,818	13%
2012	69,335	3%	16,548	7%	85,883	4%
2011	67,513	13%	15,452	7%	82,965	12%
2010	59,509	18%	14,420	17%	73,929	18%
2009	50,347	4%	12,273	15%	62,620	0%
2008	48,463	2%	14,396	12%	62,859	2%
2007	47,578		16,331		63,909

Other facilities

• The airport is the head office of AnadoluJet.^[65]
• Esenboğa Airport was designated as one of the emergency landing sites for NASA's Space Shuttle.^[66]

Ground Transport

Metro line is planned for Ankara Esenboğa Airport. The new Ankara-Esenboğa metro line will connect the airport and Yıldırım Beyazıt University to the city's central rail network. The line will be a fully automated metro system, running mostly underground, with a total length of 27 km.

Accidents and incidents

• Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 871, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle I registered as OY-KRB, crashed on approach killing all 42 occupants on board.^[67]
• Turkish Airlines Flight 835, a Fokker F27 Friendship registered as TC-TAY, crashed into a hill shortly before landing killing 28 occupants out of the 29.
• British European Airways Flight 226, a de Havilland Comet 4B registered as G-ARJM, crashed shortly after takeoff due to stalling. Twenty-seven out of the 34 occupants were killed.^[68][69]
• 1979 Turkish Airlines Ankara crash, a Fokker F28 Fellowship registered as TC-JAT, crashed during approach killing 41 out of the 45 occupants on board.^[70]
• Turkish Airlines Flight 158, a Boeing 727-2F2 registered as TC-JBR, landed 50 meters short of the runway resulting in the deaths of 47 occupants out of the 67.^[71]

See also

• List of the busiest airports in the Middle East
• 2024 Russian prisoner exchange