Erdogan, Aliyev inaugurate Türkiye's new Rize-Artvin airport

The Turkish and Azerbaijani presidents have jointly inaugurated the Rize-Artvin Airport, the world's fifth and Türkiye's second airport built on land reclaimed from the sea.

"We will fulfil our Vision 2053 of being a world logistics superpower," Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the inauguration ceremony on Saturday. 

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev was also present on the occasion. 

"We'll continue expanding our network of ports, railways, airports, roads and infrastructure," Erdogan said.

"We are here to serve our people, and this what we will always do," he added.

The project was completed in five years costing around $285 million, the Turkish president said, adding "this work shows how progressive we are and no mountain or sea can stand in our way to serve our people."

Speaking at the event, Aliyev said that Türkiye is developing with each passing day and that Türkiye is a "power centre" of the world.

First flight

Earlier, Turkish Airlines flight 2538, which took off from Istanbul at 0530GMT, was the first flight to land at the Rize-Artvin airport at 0735GMT on Saturday.

The plane's passengers were welcomed by Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu.

Aliyev also arrived in Rize at 1045GMT and was welcomed by Erdogan.

The airport is the second in Türkiye and Europe and the fifth in the world, to be built by using sea embankment.

Despite being constructed at sea, the airport will be the same size and share the same characteristics as mainland airports. 

The airport has an annual capacity to handle three million passengers.

The width and length of the runway was modelled using Boeing 737-800 type aircraft as references.

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