Aviation Alliance Between Türkiye and Germany: Historic Signing by Sabiha Gökçen and Cologne Bonn

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport have signed the “Sister Airports” Memorandum of Understanding. This strategic agreement, which strengthens the relationship between the two countries, covers the sharing of knowledge, experience and technology in the fields of airfield and terminal operations, digitalization, aviation safety, sustainability, ARFF services and passenger experience.

On the Turkish side of the Sister Airports Memorandum of Understanding are Havaalanı İşletme ve Havacılık Endüstrileri A.Ş. (HEAŞ), the Airfield Authority of İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport and an affiliate of the Presidency of Defense Industries of the Republic of Türkiye, and İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Uluslararası Havalimanı Yatırım Yapım ve İşletme A.Ş. (ISG), the terminal operator; while on the German side is Flughafen Köln/Bonn GmbH, the operator of Cologne Bonn Airport.

Through this cooperation, which symbolizes the friendship between the two countries, the parties aim to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and experience, mutually evaluate international practices, increase operational efficiency, and shape the future of global aviation by carrying out joint efforts toward the airport technologies of the future.

HEAŞ General Manager Faruk Kacır: “We Are Bringing Together the Strong Points of Two Airports in a Common Future”

HEAŞ General Manager Faruk Kacır, drawing attention to the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding in terms of İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport's international cooperations, made the following statements:

“İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, with the passenger and flight traffic it has reached today, is among the leading airports not only in our country but also in Europe. As the Airfield Authority HEAŞ, while managing our high operational capacity in line with the principles of safety, effectiveness and sustainability, we attach importance to carrying the knowledge and experience we have gained to a more advanced level through international cooperation. We continue all these efforts in line with the vision and strategic guidance put forth by our President of Defense Industries, Prof. Dr. Haluk Görgün, with a determination to add value to the future of our airport. We believe that the ‘Sister Airports’ Memorandum of Understanding we have signed with Cologne Bonn Airport will make significant contributions to the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience in a wide range of areas, from apron and runway operations to ARFF services, from airfield safety to digitalization and sustainability.”

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) Managing Director Hanita Ahmad: “We Are Launching a New Era of Opportunities in the Aviation Sector”

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) Managing Director Hanita Ahmad, stating that they have signed a highly important cooperation agreement with Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) as one of Türkiye's busiest and Europe's fastest-growing airports, made the following assessments:

“The ‘Sister Airports’ agreement, which confirms Sabiha Gökçen Airport's global success, is a highly strategic and mutually beneficial step through which both airports will reinforce each other in the areas where they are strong and expert. With our agreement, we are bringing together the strengths of the two airports and launching a new era of opportunities in the aviation sector. In Germany, the country with the largest Turkish diaspora, the city of Cologne is home to a Turkish-origin community of over 90,000. This strong bond supports visiting-friends-and-relatives tourism, creating intense and stable passenger traffic between the two airports. While Germany constitutes Sabiha Gökçen Airport's largest international passenger market, Germans ranked first among foreign nationals when Turkish citizens were excluded in the first six months of 2026. This valuable cooperation is of great importance in expanding the strong passenger traffic between the two countries and attracting Germany's regional carriers to Sabiha Gökçen.”

Cologne Bonn Airport General Manager Cenk Özöztürk: “We Are Building a New Bridge Between Countries and Cultures”

Cologne Bonn Airport General Manager Cenk Özöztürk emphasized that the Memorandum of Understanding represents an important turning point that further strengthens the relations between Türkiye and Germany in the field of aviation, beyond the cooperation between the two airports:

“This Memorandum of Understanding, which represents a turning point rather than mere cooperation, forms a new bridge between Germany and Türkiye, between Cologne and its sister city İstanbul, while also offering important opportunities for international and intercultural interaction. We view this cooperation as a critical opportunity for mutual learning and development. Together with our business partners at HEAŞ and ISG, we want to share our knowledge and experience beyond the borders between countries and cultures, and get to know different working methods closely. We aim for this partnership we have established with İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen to evolve into a lasting structure that strengthens relations.”

Strong Operational Infrastructure and Sustainable Cooperation

Within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding, in addition to regular exchange of knowledge and experience, staff exchange and on-the-job experience programs will enable employees to observe different operational processes on-site. The cooperation covers passenger experience, terminal and flight operations, digitalization, new technologies, safety, sustainability, commercial activities, new flight connections, and infrastructure.

İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport stood out with its intensive operations management, serving 48.4 million passengers and more than 275 thousand flights in 2025; while Cologne Bonn Airport operated as one of Germany's most important logistics and employment centers in the same period, with more than 10 million passengers, approximately 840 thousand tons of air cargo and 15 thousand employees. This strong structure lays the groundwork for the mutual sharing of Sabiha Gökçen's experience in high-volume passenger operations and Cologne Bonn's accumulated knowledge in the field of cargo and logistics. The bond between İstanbul and Cologne, sister cities since 1997, is being further strengthened in the field of aviation with approximately 40 weekly flight connections, reaching up to seven flights per day.