Turkey’s Hatay airport – which is located in one of the provinces worst hit by Monday’s catastrophic earthquake – has resumed operations, the Turkish Transport Ministry said on Sunday.

“We quickly repaired the damage on the Hatay Airport runway. Our airport started to operate today,” Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure said in its official Twitter page, sharing before and after images of the airport’s runway, which was badly damaged following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and was deemed “unusable” by officials.

According to the IGA Istanbul Airport operator, the repair works began on February 8 and lasted 96 hours.

Istanbul Airport Technical Services deputy general manager Fırat Emsen stated that construction and technical teams worked non-stop for 4 days, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.

The airport is expected to play a vital role in quickly and effectively distributing the logistics aid that was sent to the disaster area, ensuring that the aid is delivered to the earthquake victims in Hatay and surrounding provinces, Anadolu reported.

Emsen said it was “critical” to get the airport working again, according to the news agency.

The airport is located between Antakya and Iskenderun, two cities severely impacted by the earthquake.