ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Istanbul's new airport does not need additional financing and Turkish Airlines will not be a partner in the airport consortium, the chairman of airport shareholder Limak Holding told Reuters.
The $12 billion airport project was declared open in October by President Tayyip Erdogan but its full operation has been delayed several times, most recently this week to April 7.
Limak Holding Chairman Nihat Ozdemir said the consortium is not looking for new partners for the airport after one of the consortium partners, Kolin Insaat announced this week that it was transferring its shares to remaining partners.
Ozdemir also said the consortium is currently paying back interest on a 4.5 billion euro loan and will start making loan principal payments once the airport is opened.