The number of trucks participating in the event represents the year 1453 when Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II (Mehmet the Conqueror) took Istanbul from the Byzantine Empire through a successful military campaign.
As part of Istanbul’s 564th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, employees on the construction site of Istanbul New Airport saluted the city with a dramatic choreography.
A total of 1,453 trucks paraded across Runway 1 of Istanbul’s new mega-hub in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the longest truck procession. Around 3,000 employees participated in the procession, which covered a massive area and lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes, following a preparation phase that took seven hours. For the procession, 2,200 trucks were kept ready in the machine park of Istanbul New Airport, which boasts 3,022 state-of-the-art vehicles.
“Today, all members of the İGA family, particularly our engineers, drivers and workers, commemorated the memory of the conquest of Istanbul on 29 May 1453, which represents a significant threshold for world history,” comments Yusuf Akcayoglu CEO İGA Airport Construction. “Akin to the conquest spirit which marked the end of an era and initiated a new one, we have always been a nation that demonstrated what we can achieve as long as we stand as one. Holding on to the same spirit, we are exerting a full-fledged effort in order to put into life Istanbul New Airport, a project that the whole world is watching closely. Our employees who put forth their hard work, determination and virtues on a day-by-day basis worthily of our country, came up with a meaningful choreography in memory of the conquest of our Istanbul. We are proud to prove to the world our power by crowning the name of our country thanks to the loyalty and sacrifice of our employees in this project. When completed, Istanbul New Airport will surely close an era in the aviation history and kick-off a whole new period.”
As part of the event, 1,453 trucks covered 3.2km of ground in an unbroken procession line. Moving at a fixed speed, these 1,453 performed a trial for a Guinness record in the ‘Longest Truck Procession’ category.
