Istanbul Airport

Istanbul Airport ( tr, İstanbul Havalimanı, ) is the main international airport serving Istanbul, Turkey. It is located in the Arnavutköy district on the European side of the city.

All scheduled commercial passenger flights were transferred from Atatürk Airport to Istanbul Airport on 6 April 2019, following the closure of Atatürk Airport for scheduled passenger flights. The IATA airport code IST was also transferred to the new airport.

It served more than 37 million passengers in 2021, making it the busiest airport in Europe and 13th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and, by serving more than 27 million international passengers, the 2nd-busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic.

History

Background

Problems relating to less space at Atatürk Airport made it difficult to build an additional runway. This limited the growth of the airport as well as its city. As a result of this, the Turkish Airport Authority was unable to let charter flights, extra cargo, etc., be available at Atatürk Airport. This increased the issues of congestion relating to air traffic. Hence, the decision to build another airport was taken. This airport aimed to function for Istanbul.

The aircraft of Turkish Airlines was shifted to Sabiha Gökçen Airport as not much space was available for parking at Atatürk Airport. Sabiha Gökçen Airport was found to have reached its maximum capacity for the terminal. This terminal could serve 25 million passengers. In addition, in 2015, it had already served flyers equivalent to a number as big as 28 million. This was observed when the growth rate of traffic was at an average of 20 percent in one year, 2013 onward.

Atatürk Airport was one of the busiest airports in Europe. Since 2013, it has ranked among the five busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic. In 2017, the two Istanbul airports handled over 100 million passengers. In terms of area airports, the six London-area airports serve more than 150 million passengers a year, while the three Paris-area airports serve around 100 million passengers a year.

Location

It was decided to construct the new airport at the intersection of roads to Arnavutköy, Göktürk, and Çatalca, north of central Istanbul and between the Black Sea coast towns of , Tayakadın and Akpınar. The area is a region near Lake Terkos. Some of this area was state-owned forest. The distance between Istanbul Airport and Atatürk Airport is approximately . The area encompassed old open-pit coal mines, which were later filled with soil.

According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report published in April 2013, there were a total of 2,513,341 trees in the area and 657,950 of them would need to be cut indispensably, while 1,855,391 trees would be moved to new places. However, the Ministry of Forest and Water Management claimed the exact number of trees cut and moved would only be revealed after construction was complete.

Construction

For Istanbul Airport, a tender was made for its construction as well as its functioning. The same was held on May 3, 2013. 4 stages of construction were decided for this project. It is said that with the completion of these stages, the airport being constructed could serve many passengers. Their number was estimated to be around 200 million. Considering the time when the airport was being planned, this serving capacity could be the biggest across the globe. It was decided that in a duration of 42 months, stage 1 would be complete. Also, the handing over of land would get over. The project aimed at utilizing around €7 billion. This sum did not include any financing cost.

The government assured a consortium for both construction purposes and operation. Further, passengers in a number of 342 million were assured over a period of 12 years. Grimshaw, based in London, headed this design team. The team had the Nordic Office of Architecture from Norway. In addition, Haptic, based in London, was also a part of the team.

At the bidding session on 3 May 2013, only four out of fifteen Turkish and two foreign companies that were qualified as bidders showed up. The Turkish joint venture consortium of Cengiz-Kolin- Limak-Mapa- Kalyon won the tender and were obliged to pay the government €26.142 billion including value-added tax for a 25-year lease starting from 2018. The completion date of the construction's first stage was officially set for 2018 – 42 months after the finalization of the tender's approval.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 7 June 2014,''Grundsteinlegung für Mega-Flughafen in Istanbul.''
welt.de, 7. Juni 2014; retrieved, 8 June 2014 though construction only started in May 2015 after the land was officially handed over.

The inauguration of the airport took place on the planned date of 29 October 2018. It was reported that the first test landing at the airport would take place on 26 February 2018; however, the first landing took place on 20 June 2018.- "Istanbul Grand Airport to open in October 2018"
(German) 6 October 2017 Testing of navigational and electronic systems with DHMİ aircraft had begun on 15 May 2018.

The control tower is in the shape of the Turkish national flower, the tulip.

Project stages

The construction of the airport is taking place in several stages, expanding the airport and its facilities over time.

The first stage consists of the main terminal, with an annual passenger capacity of 90 million and an area of – making it the world's largest airport terminal building under a single roof, despite Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 having a larger floor area at due to tunnels connecting its two concourses. There will also be two pairs of parallel runways connected to eight parallel taxiways to the west of the main terminal, approximately of apron space, and an indoor car-park with a capacity of 12,000 vehicles. In addition, the airport will feature three technical blocks for repairs, maintenance, and fueling, as well as an air traffic control tower, eight ramp control towers, and hangars for cargo and general aviation aircraft. Several other services are also to be in operation, including hospitals, frequent-flyer and VIP lounges, prayer rooms, convention centers, and hotels; some of these are expected to form part of the ''Istanbul Airport City'' project.

The second stage will add a third independent runway to the east of the main terminal, as well as a fourth remote runway with an east–west heading and additional taxiways and apron areas. The third stage is planned to add a second passenger terminal with a capacity of 60 million annual passengers and an estimated area of around , as well as an additional runway and new support facilities area.
The final and fourth stage of expansion will, along with adding another runway, allow for the construction of satellite terminals with a combined capacity of 50 million passengers and an area of up to if needed.

Once fully completed by 2025, the airport will have six sets of runways (eight in total), 16 taxiways, and a total annual passenger capacity of 150 million passengers. If fully expanded to a capacity of 200 million, the airport will exhibit four terminal buildings with interconnecting rail access that combine for a total indoor area of . The airport will also have a apron with a parking capacity of 500 aircraft, VIP lounges, cargo and general aviation facilities, a state palace, and indoor and outdoor parking that can accommodate up to 70,000 cars. A medical center, aircraft rescue and firefighting stations, hotels, convention centers, power plants, and wastewater treatment facilities will also be built.

Controversies

The Turkish Chamber of Environmental Engineers (ÇMO) took the project tender to court on grounds that the project violated the existing legislation for the preparation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report. In February 2014, an Istanbul administrative court ordered the construction of the airport to be suspended. However, the groundbreaking ceremony still took place a few months later, on 7 June 2014.

A report published in Turkish newspaper ''Cumhuriyet'' in February 2018 claimed that more than 400 workers had been killed during the construction of the airport, with accidents killing three to four workers every week, and families of the killed workers being paid to remain silent about the incidents. Turkish daily ''Evrensel'' also alleged that fatal accidents continued to occur. This prompted opposition MP Veli Ağbaba to submit a written questionnaire to the Turkish parliament on 13 February 2018. In response, the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security claimed that there were only 27 fatalities during the construction of the airport. In October 2019, UK publications ''Construction News'' and ''Architects' Journal'' published a joint investigation into fatalities at the airport, nicknamed by workers "the cemetery" as so many have died. By this point, the official death toll had risen to 55, but unofficial estimates suggested that the figure could be "higher than 400". Four architects worked on the airport's design, three of them being UK-based: Grimshaw Architects, Scott Brownrigg, and Haptic Architects.

Mass worker protests broke out on 14 September 2018 after a bus carrying workers crashed, injuring 17. Complaints by workers included poor living conditions in "vermin-infested dormitories", issues in transportation that had left them stranded under the rain or on site during holidays, and long delays in payments, among others.

Operations

The opening ceremony took place on 29 October 2018, scheduled so as to coincide with the 95th anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic. The airport had been unofficially known as 'Istanbul New Airport' during construction - the new official name of 'Istanbul Airport' was announced at the opening ceremony. The first flight from the airport was Turkish Airlines flight TK2124 to the Turkish capital Ankara on 31 October 2018. On 1 November 2018, five daily flights began to arrive and depart from the airport: from Ankara, Antalya, Baku, North Nicosia, and İzmir, followed by Adana and Trabzon starting in December.

Before the full transfer, all flights were operated exclusively by Turkish Airlines. Regularly scheduled flights to all of the new airport's destinations continued to depart from Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen airports alongside these trial flights. It was originally planned that on 31 December 2018, all equipment from Atatürk Airport would be transferred to the new airport via the O-7 Motorway. As of 17 January 2019, the transfer phase was set to start 1 March 2019. However, on 25 February, the transfer phase was moved a fourth time to 5 April 2019.

The full transfer of all scheduled commercial passenger flights from Atatürk Airport to the new Istanbul Airport took place on 6 April 2019 between 02:00 and 14:00. Hundreds of trucks carried more than 10,000 pieces of equipment, each weighing about 44 tons were moved to the new airport over 41 hours. Atatürk Airport's IATA code IST was also transferred to the new airport.

In February 2022, Turkish Cargo relocated all cargo flights and operations from their former base at Atatürk Airport to the new airport.aircargoworld.com - Turkish Cargo completes transition to new Istanbul Airport
8 February 2022

Facilities

The airport currently has one terminal in service for domestic and international flights and five runways (three main and two backups) that are currently in operation. The two 17/35 runways are both 4,100 metres (13,451 feet) long, while the 16/34 runways are both 3,750 metres (12,303 feet) long. Runway 18/36 is 3,060 metres (10,039 feet) long, shorter than the other runways, although it is projected to expand to 3,750 metres (12,303 feet), the same length as the 16/34 pair. Runways 17L/35R and 16R/34L are 60 metres (197 feet) wide, while 17R/35L, 16L/34R and 18/36 are 45 metres (148 feet) wide. All runway surfaces are asphalt.

Concourses

The airport features a total of five concourses lettered A, B, D, F, and G with a total of 143 passenger boarding bridges. Concourse G, which is located in the southeast, is reserved solely for domestic flights. Three passenger boarding bridges of Concourse F which is directly to the north of Concourse G have also been allocated for domestic flights. Concourses A, B, D, and F are used for international flights. The C and E concourses connect directly to the main terminal and are therefore not independent concourses.

Security

3,500 security personnel and a total of 1,850 police, including 750 immigration officers, provide the airport's security. The site's perimeter is protected using ground radar, fixed CCTV cameras every 60 meters, pan–tilt–zoom cameras every 360 meters (1,200 feet), thermal cameras and fiber optic sensors every 720 meters (2,400 feet). The active terminal building uses up to 9,000 CCTV cameras.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Istanbul Airport:

Cargo

Statistics

Below is the passenger data and development for Istanbul Airport for the years 2018–2021:

Ground transport

Although currently the airport is only serviced from the city by public İETT and Havaist buses, it will eventually be linked by two lines of the Istanbul Metro. The new M11 line starting from Gayrettepe station is scheduled to open in October 2022. Another from Halkalı on the Marmaray rail line is expected to be completed in 2022.

Mainline railway will connect the airport to Halkalı, and via outer city bypass running over the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge across the Bosporus and connecting with the Asian rail network at Gebze.

Taxi

Istanbul city taxis are readily available 24 hours a day outside the arrival and departure areas of the airport. A trip to Istanbul city centre by taxi takes approximately 40 minutes.

See also

*Istanbul Canal
*Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
*Northern Marmara Motorway
*Çanakkale 1915 Bridge
*Atatürk Airport
* Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport

References

External links

*

Project plan

{{authority control

Build–operate–transfer
Buildings and structures in Istanbul Province
Transport infrastructure under construction in Turkey
Airports in Istanbul
2018 establishments in Turkey
Airports established in 2018