HISTORY OF GEÇİTKALE AIRPORT

The construction of the Geçitkale Airport was started on the 7th of December 1982 and finished on the 6th of November 1985.This airport, has the facilities to serve safely on the landing and departure of all types of aircraft in international standards, was built on 2 thousand 890 acre area. The airport runway length is 2,850 meters  and 45 meters wide. Turkey spent 10 million dollars for the construction of this airport, so in total 4 billion 973 million TL were spent. Geçitkale Airport (Lefkonuk) Airport, which was officially opened on March of 7, 1986, was made as an alternative for Ercan Airport.

The native Turkish Cypriot pilot, Captain Mehmet Konedralı, was the first pilot of who landed to Geçitkale Airport on March 7, in 1986, with 52 passengers by type B727, call sign TK016, and aircraft named Erciyes. Geçitkale Airport was used for 2 weeks in July 1992 and between 2002-2004    due to the Ercan Airport constraction. This airport currently is closed to Instrument Flights  (IFR) and is open to only    visual flight(VFR). In 2008, due to 4 voltage power electricity lines which are located on the   approach path of runway 09, Geçitkale Airport was technically closed to   instrument flights(IFR). In 2012 due to  privatization of Ercan Airport, Geçitkale Airport was closed to commercial flights due to  contract with T&T (Taşyapı Constraction).