Istanbul Airports’ Socially Conscious Operations – Kadri Samsunlu on Sustainability and Responsible Travel

Choose sustainable travel at Istanbul Airports: favor rail links and low-emission transfers that minimize traffic and boost inclusion. Kadri Samsunlu frames the network as a living system, which hinges on people-first decisions and measurable outcomes. They also collaborate with local communities to translate sustainability into everyday services for the future.

Official data show energy use per passenger fell by about 25% since 2019, rooftop solar adds 12 MW of capacity, and water use per passenger dropped 15%. The airport’s processes for waste sorting and a 60% diversion rate are making daily operations more sustainable.

As part of a project building inclusion, Istanbul Airports work with diverse teams and local suppliers, like those from surrounding districts, to ensure a living ecosystem that gives back. They aim for a broad diversity in hiring and procurement and a degree of training across safety and hospitality services, giving local communities new opportunities.

To advance responsible travel, the airport should push two lines: (1) passenger options for low-impact transit, greener dining, and rigorous waste sorting; (2) internal reforms such as electrifying ground support equipment, upgrading HVAC with heat recovery, and digitalizing processes that cut queues. These efforts, tested in new terminal wings, raise services before peak times and even reduce energy consumption during busy periods.

For travelers, practical steps include selecting carriers that commit to responsible travel, choosing rail or shuttle links, and engaging with inclusion programs. The ongoing work focuses on traffic management, fair procurement, and transparent reporting on energy use and recycling, helping your choices reflect responsible travel during your second visit to Istanbul’s airports.

Istanbul Airports’ Socially Conscious Operations: Kadri Samsunlu, Sustainability, and AI-Driven Ground Ops (Frankfurt Case)

Adopt a centralized AI-driven ground ops platform across Istanbul Airports, modeled on the Frankfurt Case pilot, to provide seamless services, reduce emissions, and advance responsible travel using real-time sensor data and integrated weather feeds.

Kadri Samsunlu anchors the plan as a pragmatic step to retain safety oversight while scaling, aligning this with their sustainability projects and aiming to automate routine tasks to a degree that keeps their people in the loop.

Using modular infrastructure and virtual processes, the system connects corners of the airside and landside, enabling working teams to react faster and bring data into action with minimal friction, while building out scalable processes that focus on performance.

Focus on emissions and performance targets: reduce taxi-out emissions by 12-20% within 2-3 years, achieve an 8-12% improvement in turnaround time, and grow throughput while maintaining service levels.

Panel governance and partnerships: establish a cross-stakeholder panel that reviews progress monthly, retain a primary provider and a second provider for specialized services, and stress-test the end-to-end process to prevent negative reaction and drift in operations.

Outcome: everybody benefits from more efficient, naturally integrated services, as the platform scales and will become more resilient. This enables Istanbul to move forward with confidence, while infrastructure investments fuel growth and trust with travelers and partners.

Measuring Sustainability: What Kadri Samsunlu Tracks at Istanbul Airports

Begin by establishing a daily register of energy, water, waste, and social metrics across both airports, then publish an information dashboard for your teams and the public.

Under the umbrella of sustainability, the superstructure aligns ground operations, facility management, and the provider network. This framework keeps information flowing, enables quick reaction, and helps retain momentum across teams.

Already, teams report monthly progress through the shared dashboard, enabling focused improvements across ground operations and facility management. This efficient approach links the data to daily decisions.

What Kadri tracks spans three main pillars to drive measurable performance and value for travelers and society:

1. Environmental efficiency

   • Energy: regulate energy intensity per passenger; set a target to cut it by a defined percentage by 2030; use smart meters to monitor at ground and facility levels; track trees planted in airport landscapes.
   • Emissions and climate data: monitor carbon emissions per passenger and implement heat recovery and ventilation improvements.
   • Water and waste: reduce freshwater use, increase recycling, and repurpose waste into energy where feasible.

2. Social impact and accessibility

   • Disabilities: broaden accessible wayfinding, adjustable seating, and communication support; ensure all rooms in lounges and rest areas meet universal design standards.
   • People and value: certify talented teams across departments; elevate customer satisfaction metrics; strengthen a respectful society around travel.
   • Facilities: create inviting café spaces with energy-efficient equipment and locally sourced options to support travellers and staff.

3. Governance, reporting, and engagement

   • Reporting cadence: publish quarterly information on the register of metrics; show performance against targets.
   • Stakeholder engagement: solicit reaction from passengers and workers; adjust plans to build trust and value for the provider network.
   • Continuity and materials: maintain an umbrella governance structure that guides new rooms and spaces, ensuring accessibility and efficiency.

Three concrete recommendations to move from plan to practice: map all energy and water points across both airports and install a single, accessible information dashboard; launch a tree-planting and green-space expansion program with measurable landscaping gains per terminal; upgrade accessibility features in rooms and lounges and train staff to respond promptly to diverse needs.

Guiding Responsible Travel: Practical Actions for Passengers at Istanbul Airports

Use a reusable bottle, pack light, and opt for digital boarding passes to cut waste at Istanbul airports.

Three practical actions drive best outcomes for people using the facility: sort waste at source, choose products with recyclable packaging, and stay engaged with staff who guide you using clear, multilingual signs. There is signage and a dedicated panel to help you build awareness before you move to gates, and there is something new in every update; employees working across terminals assist you. There you can see signage that reinforces the steps.

In-Terminal Actions

Using the airport’s resources–trees, a solar panel, and energy-efficient lighting–reduces emissions while you travel. Kadri Samsunlu’s team builds partnerships with local projects, including women-led initiatives and investments with global partners, even from china. The superstructure across the terminal is designed to support easy wayfinding and rapid service. This approach strengthens the airport’s competitive growth, and just as importantly, keeps your arrival smooth and your choices responsible.

There are kid-friendly corners with safe, eco-friendly toys; parents can involve children in responsible travel by explaining how they sort waste and reuse bags. The three corners of the terminal provide quiet spaces, information desks, and staff who can connect you with volunteers giving tips to minimize demand on services while retaining high service levels.

During your stay, choose transit options that reduce emissions: walking short distances, using electric carts for longer hops, and hailing only when necessary. The airport speaks through its facility upgrades and the people who work here. Your actions directly influence the airport’s growth and the demand curve for sustainable services; you can also share your feedback with the panel, giving travelers like you a voice that helps steer future investments and projects. This wish to improve continuously keeps very high standards across staff and operations, including women and men alike. Also, this approach invites you to participate with a positive, everyday impact.

Community Impact and Local Benefits: Jobs, Noise Management, and Green Spaces

Recommendation: launch a local hiring plan that prioritizes women and living communities, aiming to fill 60% of new positions with residents within three years, and connect this to a skills program to enable your teams to start work quickly and responsibly. This effort started five years ago and already shows strong outcomes. If you wish, this plan can scale to neighboring districts.

Jobs and Local Hiring

From the existing workforce, the plan adds pathways for training and progression that keep talent in the area. It prioritizes women and people from diverse cultures, where the biggest projects require registered locals and where transportation connections support growth. Creating opportunities for living in nearby towns reduces commuting strain while retaining talented people and existing ties. This approach makes work accessible for your communities, with different tracks to start, remain, and advance in roles across operations, maintenance, hospitality, and security. The program also aligns with virtual training modules to accelerate learning while preserving hands-on experience. By focusing on living wages, keeping commitments, and career ladders, the airport can provide stable employment for years to come, supporting working families and enabling people to join local projects.

Noise Management and Green Spaces

To minimize impact on nearby neighborhoods, implement phased flight path adjustments, enforce curfews at sensitive times, and deploy low-noise ground handling equipment. Install sound barriers around maintenance areas and integrate natural buffers such as tree belts where land permits. A monitoring network tracks arrival and departure noise levels and shares real-time data with residents and operators, helping plan arrival windows and reduce waiting for those living close to the airfield. In parallel, create green spaces including pocket parks and a green corridor along the perimeter to improve air quality and provide spaces for families to gather after work. These steps support living conditions and invite community activities, while naturally reconnecting people with the airport environment.

Initiative	Target Metric	Timeline	Notes
Local Hiring & Training	60% of new roles filled by residents; 50-60% women	Within three years	Includes virtual modules; register locals; create career ladders
Noise Reduction Measures	LAeq reduction by 3-5 dB near inhabited areas	2 years	Quiet equipment; optimized flight paths; curfew adherence
Green Space Expansion	5 hectares of new buffers; 3 pocket parks	4 years	Bird- and pollinator-friendly plantings
Transportation Connectivity	24/7 shuttle network; 15% fewer car trips	3 years	Enhances access for workers; reduces traffic

Supply Chain Collaboration: How Istanbul Airports Partners Align for Greener Travel

Set up a shared data and procurement platform that connects the provider, operator, and stakeholders across Istanbul Airports to track emissions and efficiency through transportation, ground handling, and facilities. This approach simply aligns incentives, reduces duplication, and strengthens a competitive edge for travelling customers; this benefits the entire ecosystem. Also, it creates a clear line of accountability for decisions across corners of the network.

Investing in projects that modernise fleets, deploy electric ground support equipment, and upgrade energy systems; this strengthens operations, boosts competitive standing, and also engages young employees in hands-on roles. Like any complex system, success depends on day-to-day discipline, while this initiative also addresses living conditions near the hubs and sets a best practice standard for care in day-to-day activities.

Map corners of the network–terminals, cargo zones, and maintenance yards–and apply common emission criteria there. Where possible, share data openly to align incentives. Through collaboration with service providers and existing contracts, capitalise on new partnerships that reward greener transportation and travelling experiences. As mentioned, leadership emphasises measurable results that demonstrate care for staff and communities. Thats why dashboards using common metrics matter for transparency. There is something tangible for customers and employees to recognise in the data. There, outcomes become visible to travellers and staff, helping to adapt to circumstances.

AI in Ground Handling: Frankfurt Airport Innovations and Lessons for Istanbul

Adopt Frankfurt Airport’s AI-driven ground handling approach now: deploy AI-powered stand allocation and dynamic pushback planning to cut waiting and ground traffic, targeting a 15-20% reduction in aircraft turnaround time and smoother ramp sequencing. The strategy rests on turning information from every source–airlines, handlers, and sensors–into a single operating picture, so stakeholders can react within seconds rather than minutes. The approach comes with a robust governance layer and clear accountabilities, ensuring alignment across teams. The plan started with a small stand allocation pilot in 2020, and its momentum proves that much more reliable schedules are achievable when data leads decisions.

Frankfurt’s newest projects integrate baggage sorting, intelligent stand assignment, and predictive maintenance for GSE. They are able to anticipate demand peaks, balance crew workloads, and reduce waiting time by measurable margins. Within Frankfurt, teams run daily reviews and adjust models to reflect real-world changes. Through a living data fabric, decision makers see where traffic bottlenecks form and act before delays propagate.

The effort engages women and men across functions, retaining skilled staff by giving them smarter tools and clearer information. Stakeholders in operations, maintenance, and information technology align through cross-functional workstreams, and the head of operations champions a steady cadence of reviews. For those ramp teams, real-time guidance eliminates guesswork and speeds up coordination across shifts.

Emissions goals drive action: zerog operations are pursued via electric ground support equipment and low-idle taxiing strategies, balancing cost with performance improvements. This focus complements the business case by reducing fuel spend while preserving reliability in peak periods.

Training through an academy program ensures the workforce stays proficient with the newest tools, and academies collaborate with local universities to feed talent from the academy into frontline roles. The initiative supports living skills growth and keeps personnel able to adapt to changing workflows as technology shifts.

Simulation toys and digital twins help teams test changes before live deployment, and field pilots track whether the changes hold under real traffic and weather; keep an eye on environmental emissions to protect nearby trees and neighborhoods. The combination of theoretical models and practical tests accelerates learning and reduces risk when expanding to new stands or lanes.

For Istanbul, start with a two-pilot plan: a stand allocation module and a baggage handling optimization, using Frankfurt learnings as templates. Use a phased approach to keep demand stable and allow for rapid results. This adds clarity for stakeholders, limits disruption, and creates early wins that can be scaled across terminals.

Key Technologies in Frankfurt’s AI Ground Handling

Key technologies are: AI-driven stand allocation that updates in real time; predictive maintenance for GSE to prevent failures; computer-vision baggage sorting to reduce mis-sorts; digital twins and simulation models for planning new stands; integrated information flows that connect airline schedules, ramp crews, and customs in a single view; and touchpoints across transportation and academy to train staff.

Lessons for Istanbul

First, establish a data backbone by consolidating flight, stand, cargo, and GSE data in a secure, shared platform that stakeholders can trust. Start with two pilots: stand allocation optimization and baggage routing. Measure waiting times, on-time departures, and energy use; aim for a 12-18% reduction in turnaround time in the first 12 months and steady progress after that. Build a procurement plan around modular hardware and software with zerog options and the ability to scale as demand grows. Engage the academy and transportation teams early to train operators on the new interfaces, and set a clear governance cadence with the head of airport operations and airline partners. Keep the living dashboards simple and accessible so women and men in operations can use the information to support making faster decisions.