Turkey has sunk an Airbus A330 aircraft in the Aegean Sea as an artificial reef for divers. The new wreck follows the 2016 sinking of an Airbus A300 and a Douglas DC3 ‘Dakota’ in 2009.
At 65m in length and with a wingspan of 60m, the latest addition to Turkey’s growing list of underwater aircraft is thought to be the longest in the world. The decommissioned aircraft was sunk as part of an arrangement between the tourist authorities and TANAP, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project.
The Airbus, which entered service in 1995 and retired in 2018, was dismantled in Antalya earlier this year by Skyair shop aviation. After transporting the parts to İbrice, the team from Skyair reassembled the aircraft before floating it out to sea on an inflatable raft and sinking it to a depth of around 30m, approximately one nautical mile from İbrice Harbour in Edirne province.
It is hoped that the new attraction will bring tourism to the area as a scuba diving hotspot. ‘The plane wreck will provide a great benefit to both nature and divers,’ said Özkan Arsu, Turkish Underwater Sports Federation representative of Edirne, during an interview.
Photos and video (scroll down) provided by SkyAir Shop.
