Ercan International Airport

Ercan Airport
Ercan Havalimanı
Lefkoşa Airport

Airport forecourt
IATA: ECN – ICAO: LCEN[1]
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner State
Operator State
Serves Northern Cyprus
Location Tymvou
Elevation AMSL 403 ft / 123 m
Coordinates 35°09′35″N 33°30′00″E / 35.15972°N 33.50000°ECoordinates: 35°09′35″N 33°30′00″E / 35.15972°N 33.50000°E
Website flyercan.com
Map
ECN/LCEN
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 9,038 2,755 Asphalt
16/34 5,905 1,800 Paved
Statistics (Nov 2012[2])
Monthly Passengers 204,208 Increase
Monthly Aircraft 1,646 Increase

Ercan International Airport (Turkish: Ercan Uluslararası Havalimanı [eɾdʒan uɫusɫaɾaɾasɯ havalimanɯ]) (IATA: ECN, ICAO: LCEN)[1] is the primary civilian airport of Northern Cyprus. It is located about 13 km east of Nicosia, near the village of Tymvou. Turkish and other airline booking sites commonly refer to this airport as Lefkoşa (Nicosia) Airport.

History

Check-in area

The precursor of Ercan Airport, Tymvou Airport, was constructed by the British in World War II as a military airport, during their colonial rule of the island. It was abandoned after the independence of Cyprus. Following the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus and the partition of the island into Turkish and Greek areas, it was expanded, and today it is used as the main civilian airport of Northern Cyprus.

Since 2006, the rule which stipulates that flights are required to touch down at a Turkish airport before continuing to and from Ercan has been under discussion. In 2006, the Turkish government began discussions for Northern Cyprus's main port Famagusta, and main civilian airport Ercan, to be able to operate direct connections, with the UK government describing it as a "significant and creative offer".[3]

Recent plans have arisen to privatise Ercan Airport, as well as plans to enlarge the airport in order to increase capacity. Ercan Airport currently has a 2.5 kilometre-long runway and an apron with a capacity of seven aircraft. Although the runway is long enough for large planes to land, it is not long enough for take-offs. The plan is for the construction of a new runway, apron and terminal building, with the planned new apron doubling the current plane capacity.[4]

Airlines and destinations

Note: All regular international flights outside of Turkey are not nonstop; they require an intermediate landing at a Turkish airport.

Airlines Destinations
AtlasGlobal Adana, Antalya, Istanbul-Atatürk, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir, London-Luton, Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Borajet Adana, Antalya, Hatay, Kayseri
Corendon Airlines Antalya, Brussels, Copenhagen
Corendon Dutch Airlines Amsterdam
Freebird Airlines Antalya
Seasonal charter: Amsterdam, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Brussels, Budapest, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Munich, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Stuttgart, Vienna, Zürich
Onur Air Istanbul-Atatürk, Trabzon
Seasonal charter: Bratislava, Glasgow-International, Ljubljana, Manchester
Pegasus Airlines Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir, London-Stansted
SunExpress Izmir
Seasonal: Adana
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen
Turkish Airlines
operated by AnadoluJet 		Ankara, Hatay

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "LCEN" in widespread use, including by the ICAO (e.g. here), however the code does not appear in an official ICAO List.
  2. ↑ AB Haber News Site (Link to the news article)
  3. ↑ "Turkey "will open up to Cyprus"". BBC News. 7 December 2006.
  4. ↑ "Northern Cyprus airport for sale". Hurriyet. 27 December 2008.

External links

Media related to Ercan International Airport at Wikimedia Commons