HISTORY OF ERCAN AIRPORT
Airport history reaches to old times. Of course, the history of Cyprus should be mentioned beforehand. The Ottoman Empire made a treaty with the United Kingdom, against the Russian threat. On June 4, 1878 and July 1, 1878 the Cyprus Convention, the Treaty of Cyprus-Cyprus Convention and with the Berlin Conference, Cyprus were temporarily transferred to Great Britain. After the 1900s, Cyprus was used almost as a British and French warship. The first name of Ercan Airport was mentioned in the book called “History of Cyprus Turkish Aviation & Realities (İzzet HOCTA & R, İ. Derkan) which was written for the aviation history of Cyprus. Cyprus was bombed twice from the air. It was first bombed by the Italians in 1936 and the second one by the German Air Force in 1941-1943 for couple of times. RAF Tymbou was built as an alternative to Nicosia International Airport. RAF Tymbou Airport, which was built and developed during this attack, was built by German prisoners and RAF Tymbou was used as the headquarters of the French military paratroopers in 1945. The camps of the French paratroopers were built by the peasants. On the first day of the Happy Peace Operation, July 20, 1974, following the contributions of Fehmi Ercan, the senior military commander who died in the exile zone, RAF Tymbou name was changed to Ercan Airport by the decision of the Council of Ministers (Derkan, İ, History of Cyprus Turkish aviation Realities Edition 1).
1-Ercan Civil Air Traffic was opened on February 3, 1975, and the first flight was made with the F28 65 passenger jet.
2-The short runway was put into service on December 20, 1975. The main runway 11/29 was put into service on June 15, 1976. B727 and DC9 airplanes started to arrive in Ercan Airport in 1976.
3-Air Traffic Control Service was started to be given on 21 March 1977.
4-The first night flight was made on 1 April 1977.
5-On September 12, 1977, the new terminal building was opened (Tower and Technical block).
6-In December 1977, cargo, fire and catering buildings were constructed.
7-24.12.1992, RADAR was started to be used in Ercan Airport.
8-18 April 2002 Ercan Aviation Publication (AIP) was published.
9-On 24 January, 2004, the transition to RVSM was applied in Air Traffic Control.
10-Ercan Airport was re-opened in May 10, 2004 with the new theme. A total of 19 trillion liras was invested in Ercan Airport in two years (2002-2004).
11-Moved to SMART Building, January 24, 2009.
12-August 16, 2012, ILS System was started to be used.
13-Ercan Airport Privatization Board Decision 12 October, 2012 and Ercan Airport's management rights transfered to “Taş Yapı- Terminal Yapı” and the small common Kaner’s Group of Companies Ltd. Şti in January 1, 2013.
Currently, the main runway length of 11/29 is 2755 meters and the width is 45 meters. He had the capacity to provide day and night landing and take-off opportunities to the Airbus 330 from the large hulls in the civil air transportation
Source: Derkan, İ, Service Analysis of International Airports, Ercan Airport Case Study, Master Thesis ( 2015) – Derkan,i, History of Cyprus Turkish Aviation & Realities (2015)
ERCAN NEW AIRPORT PROJECT INFORMATION
128.000 m2 New Terminal, 40.000 m2 car parking area, 169.000 m2 Total Parking Position, 8 Bridges, 11 Parking positions, Annual targeted number of passengers are 5.5 million.
