Ereğli Erdemir Airport

The closure was primarily due to economic and logistical reasons. As a private corporate airfield, the high costs of maintenance, staffing, and operation became difficult to justify for its owner, the Erdemir steel company. Improved road infrastructure to major cities like Istanbul and Ankara, and the eventual development of the nearby Zonguldak Airport (ONQ), provided alternative transportation options, making the private airstrip redundant.

The site of the former airport has been completely absorbed by the expansion of the Erdemir steel plant. Satellite imagery of the coordinates confirms that the former runway and apron areas are now covered by industrial facilities, storage yards for raw materials and slag, and internal plant roads. There are no visible remnants of its aviation infrastructure, and the land has been fully repurposed for industrial use.

Ereğli Erdemir Airport was a private airfield built and operated by the Ereğli Demir ve Çelik Fabrikaları T.A.Ş. (Erdemir), one of Turkey's largest steel producers. Its primary function was to facilitate corporate travel for company executives, engineers, and important visitors, providing a rapid connection to the industrial plant from other parts of Turkey. It featured a single asphalt runway approximately 1,200 meters (around 3,900 feet) long. The airport did not handle scheduled commercial passenger flights and was used exclusively for private, corporate, and occasional emergency operations related to the steelworks.

There are no plans to reopen the original airport at its former location, as the site is now an integral part of the Erdemir industrial complex. However, there is significant and ongoing lobbying from local business groups, such as the Karadeniz Ereğli Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TSO), and politicians for the construction of a *new* public airport in the Ereğli district. These proposals aim to boost regional tourism and economic development, but they involve identifying a new, suitable location, not reviving the TR-0299 site. As of now, these are long-term proposals with no definitive timeline or funding secured.