Fly From Zonguldak to Istanbul, Via Düsseldorf

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 14 December 2018)


                    Auf  weidersehen! (but no 'Güle Güle!)

The Zonguldak Airport at Çaycuma was opened in 1999, closed in
2002 and re-opened in 2007. The airport has the capacity to handle
500,000 passengers per year but right now flights only go to and
from Germany. (!)

So, in order to fly from Zonguldak to Istanbul a passenger must
first fly to Düsseldorf and from there to Istanbul.  CHP (opposition
party) Zonguldak Parliamentarian Deniz Yavuzyılmaz lamented
that "there are no domestic flights from Çaycuma, just flights to
Germany. So you can only fly to Istanbul from Zonguldak through
Germany. It's faster to drive to Istanbul!"

In Parliament, Yavuzyılmaz pleaded "don't punish the people of
Zonguldak. Open the airport for domestic flights at once! Çaycuma
is 55 kilometers from Zonguldak, 30 kilometers from Bartin and
90 kilometers from Karabük. And it's on the rail line, too. It is
just 7 kilometers from Filyos, which was planned to be an export
center for Turkey.  But unfortunately, there are no domestic flights,
just ones to Germany.  I ask all our leaders, bureaucrats and parties
to fix this.  There is an ILS (instrument landing system) shortfall
at Çaycuma and the runway needs to be widened and lengthened."