The Turkish and Azerbaijani presidents met Saturday and jointly inaugurated the Rize-Artvin Airport, Turkey’s second airport built on a reclaimed area in the rugged northeastern Black Sea region.
The first flight to the airport, Turkish Airlines (THY) flight 2538, which took off from Istanbul at 8:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. GMT) landed at the Rize-Artvin airport at 10:35 a.m. local time (7:35 a.m. GMT).
Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu welcomed the passengers. Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Ekşi was the first to step out of the plane and spoke to journalists about the significance of the airport.
The THY plane carrying 320 passengers was renamed “Rize-Artvin” to mark the inauguration and the aircraft was piloted by Mustafa Inanç Ersoy, a native of the Pazar district of Rize.
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