In the hopes of luring fish and keeping Turkey's tourism industry afloat, authorities sank a massive Airbus on the Aegean Sea on Saturday, June 4.
Originally constructed to carry hundreds of travelers on air, the Airbus A300 jumbo jet now deliberately lies about 75 feet off the coast of the Aegean.
The 36-year-old jet, which has not been twisted into wreckage, is about 177 feet long with a 144-foot wingspan. It has been divided into parts, which were carried on trucks to the town of Kuşadası. Its final journey commenced in Istanbul in April.
Biggest Wrecks
The Airbus A300 is considered the largest plane ever used as an artificial reef for marine life. Officials say it took about 2.5 hours for the jet to submerge.
Hundreds of witnesses cheered and blasted their foghorns as the plane sank deeper. Divers lowered the plane to the seabed until its nose finally sank to the bottom.
The reason for the sinking is twofold: turn Kuşadası into a tourist destination for divers, and protect marine life.
"With these goals in mind, we have witnessed one of the biggest wrecks in the world," says Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu of the Aydin province.
Saving The Tourism Industry
Turkey's tourism industry has slumped in the wake of recent suicide bombings. But gambits such as the Airbus artificial reef can divert people's attention.
And because it is an artificial reef, it does not suffer from the "disease" that currently plagues its natural counterparts. Indeed, across the globe, coral bleaching has been damaging coral species and pushing them to the brink of extinction.
This is not the first time that Turkey used planes to promote diving tourism. According to the Guardian, the country had previously sunk three small planes off Turkish resorts in recent years. Still, the $92,000-Airbus is by far the largest.
Is It Beneficial?
Artificial reefs should not be combined with trash dumps, and not any junk can be considered artificial reef material. For instance, coral will not grow well on washing machines because the secretions are prevented by the appliance's enamel.
It is still an open question as to whether artificial reefs are actually beneficial to marine life. James Bohnsack, a marine expert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, worries that the artificial reef merely relocates fish and does not replenish their population.
Meanwhile, Çerçioğlu is hopeful that the Airbus reef will become a success. The government expects 250,000 foreign and domestic tourists per year to visit the artificial reef.
