Episode 15 - Kadri Samsunlu

International Airport Review Podcast

For this exclusive interview, International Airport Review Editor Holly Miles caught up with Kadri Samsunlu, CEO of iGA Istanbul Airport. Kadri spoke about how he is striving to create a world class passenger experience by putting employees at the heart of this and creating a high quality working environment so that they can deliver the best experience possible. Kadri shared specific examples around how they attract a high quality workforce and make them feel valued. Kadri spoke about the iGA Istanbul becoming the first airport in the world to achieve the ACI World Accessibility Accreditation, saying he feels passionately about creating an inclusive airport environment, because “Air travel is a human right”. He also shared some of his own experiences relating to this. Kadri went on to explain what social responsibility means to iGA and the sustainability initiatives that he is most proud of. The CEO also spoke candidly about the challenges that his airport and the industry is facing this year including reactions of certain countries to the reopening of China as it is the most important market for the industry, a challenge specifically for his airport is the on time performance of Europe which Kadri says is poor due to staffing issues in Europe, hub carriers are ambitious for growth but there are delivery delays on aircraft which will constrain their growth. Listen to the interview now.