Istanbul
Tom Allett, editor of sister title Airports International, had the privilege of visiting the new Istanbul Airport just days before its ceremonial opening and discovered much work is needed before the facility is fully functional.
Istanbul’s new airport will handle 2,000 flights per day on completion. It will have an overall capacity of 150 million passengers per annum with expansion potential for up to 200 million. All images ÍGA unless stated
When the then prime minister (now President) of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdo an, announced a new Istanbul Airport project back in 2012, the city already had two international airports, Atatürk (IST) and Sabiha Gökçen (SAW). Like facilities at many other major cities, the former was surrounded by urban developments on all sides and the latter had already exceeded its theoretical passenger capacity.
