ISTANBUL

A therapy dog project, launched for the first time in Türkiye at Istanbul Airport, aims to offer a peaceful and pleasant traveling experience to passengers feeling stressed about flights with the support of their pawed friends.

Under the pilot project, five specially trained therapy dogs started to work at Istanbul Airport.

The dogs are taken around the airport accompanied by their trainers to support passengers with their positive energy.

The dogs are on duty in the international departures area during the day, especially when flights are busy.   

‘Dogs all around airport’

Abdulkadir Demirtas, the customer experience manager at IGA, which runs the airport, said that every year the airport sees millions of people from many countries

Stating that the airport develops services for different needs and situations by prioritizing passenger satisfaction, Demirtas noted that traveling can sometimes be stressful.

Demirtas stated that for this reason, the management cares about providing a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere at the airport, adding: "The positive effects of human and animal interaction on blood pressure, stress and anxiety levels, have been proven by many scientific studies. Acting in light of these studies, we aim to provide a pleasant, stress-free travel experience at our airport with therapy dogs."

The airport wants its guests to leave the airport happy and with unforgettable memories, he said: "Our guests can meet our dogs all around the airport."

Underlining that there are similar projects in other parts of the world, Demirtas added that in addition to dogs, ponies do similar tasks at airports in the US and Canada.   

‘Training starts when they are puppies’

Veterinarian Volkan Arslan said the dogs undergo training process for their job.

Saying that five dogs have already successfully passed the training, Arslan said that the dogs started to be trained as puppies and that there are four more puppies now in the pipeline.

Arslan said that the trainers also took training and got certificates.

Saying that they got positive reactions from passengers during the training process, Arslan said that they take care of the dogs’ health and have monthly and weekly programs for this purpose.   

‘I’ve never seen something like this before’

Yunus Kizilaslan, a passenger, was pleased by the people-friendly pooches. "It’s a very nice program, we want it to continue. It’s very nice that they are trained."

Chinese passenger Xi Yuki also adored the therapy dogs.

Saying he found the project useful, Xi added: "I love dogs and animals very much. I’m very happy to see them here. I never saw a program like this before."   

Animal-friendly airport

At IGA Istanbul Airport, there are a total of four pet rooms, one at the departing passenger floor counter islands, two after passport control, and one at the arriving passenger floor, for the needs of small traveling animals.

The pet rooms are equipped with products such as cat and dog food, litter, and cat scratching boards.