Ercan International Airport

Ercan International Airport (Turkish: Ercan Uluslararası Havalimanı pronounced [æɾˈdʒan uɫusɫaɾaɾaˈsɯ havalimaˈnɯ]) (IATA: ECN, ICAO: LCEN)[1] is the primary civilian airport of Northern Cyprus, a country solely recognised by Turkey. It is located about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of North Nicosia, near the village of Kırklar.

Ercan Airport

Ercan Havalimanı
Αεροδρόμιο Ερτζάν Λευκωσίας/Τύμβου
Summary
Airport typePrivate
OwnerT&T Ercan Airport
OperatorT&T Ercan Airport
ServesNorthern Cyprus
LocationTymvou
Elevation AMSL403 ft / 123 m
Coordinates35°09′35″N 33°30′00″E
Websitewww.ercanairport.net
Map
ECN/LCEN
ECN/LCEN
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
11/29 9,038 2,755 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Yearly Passengers4,000,000 [2]
Monthly Aircraft1646 [3]

Flights to the airport are banned internationally.[4] Non-stop flights only take place from Turkey, and all planes that fly to Northern Cyprus from other countries have to stop over in Turkey.[5] Because of these difficulties and inconveniences, the majority of Turkish Cypriots with Republic of Cyprus passports prefer to use Larnaca International Airport, which is located in the internationally-recognised, government-controlled part of Cyprus; this option is not available, however, to Turkish settlers.[6][7]

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. Following the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus and the partition of the island it was occupied by the Turkish army, 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".[8]

However, as of 2017, the rule still applies, and Ercan airport has seen a more than 400% decrease in customers,[6] as a result of new tight security measures imposed by the UK Department for Transport questioning the status of the airport and forcing passengers travelling between Britain and Northern Cyprus to disembark with their luggage and go through a fresh security check in Turkey in order to board a new aircraft for their final destination.[6]

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 has been for the construction of a new runway, apron and terminal building, with the planned new apron doubling the current plane capacity.[9] As of 2020, te new terminal is currently under construction. It will be much larger than the existing and have 9 airbridges. A new runway is also being constructed alongside the existing one.

Airlines and destinations

Due to the disputed international status of Northern Cyprus there are no non-stop scheduled flights between Ercan and destinations outside of Turkey. However, several airlines operate direct flights from Ercan to Europe with intermediate stops in Turkey.[4][5]

AirlinesDestinations
AnadoluJet[10] Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir
Pegasus Airlines Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir
SunExpress[11] Izmir
Turkish Airlines Istanbul

References
  1. "LCEN" in widespread use, including by the ICAO (e.g. here Archived 3 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine) and FAA (e.g. here Archived 27 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine), however the code does not appear in an official ICAO List Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "Ercan Havalimanı yolcu sayısı 4 milyonu aştı". www.airnewstimes.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  3. AB Haber News Site (link to the news article)
  4. "Students Flock to Universities in Northern Cyprus". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  5. "Europe diary: Island isolation". BBC. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  6. "Larnaca Airport bookings soar at expense of Ercan following UK air embargo – T-VINE". Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  7. "Larnaka, İstanbul'a bile Ercan'dan ucuzken". Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  8. "Turkey "will open up to Cyprus"". BBC News. 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
  9. "Northern Cyprus airport for sale". Hurriyet. 27 December 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  10. "Flight network". anadolujet.com.
  11. Liu, Jim. "SunExpress S20 new routes as of 23DEC19". Routesonline. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.

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