Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opens new Istanbul Airport

The first phase of the new Istanbul Airport was completed in 42 months and became operational on the 95th Anniversary of the Foundation of Republic. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened the new airport with a magnificent ceremony. The first phase consists of the main terminal building of 1.4 million m2, 2 runways, an Air Traffic Control Tower and supporting buildings.

The opening ceremony of the new Istanbul Airport, a milestone in world engineering history, the construction of which commenced in 2015, hosted a high number of government officials. Head of Turkish Grand National Assembly Binali Yıldırım, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Presidential Sposkesman İbrahim Kalın, Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler, Ministry of Treasure and Finance Berat Albayrak, Ministry of the Interior Süleyman Soylu, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy, Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk, Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli, Minister of Commerce Ruhsar Pekcan, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Cahit Turan, Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül, Minister of Labor, Social Security and Family Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk, Minister of Environment and Urbanization Murat Kurum, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez, Minister of Youth and Sports Mehmet Kasapoğlu joined the ceremony.

The ceremony was also attended by President of the Republic of Albania Ilir Meta, President Of The Kyrgyz Republic Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of Kosava Hashim Thaci, Turkish Republic Of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Akıncı, The President Of The Republic Of Moldova Igor Dodon, President Of The Republic Of Serbia Aleksandar Vujić, Sudan President, Feldmareşal Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Oktay Asadov, President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan Oktay Asadov, Chairman Of The Council Of Ministers Of Bosnia And Herzegovina (Prime Minister) Dr. Denis Zvizdic, Bulgarian Prime Minister Of Boyko Borisov and President of the Gagauz Autonomous Republic of the Republic of Moldova Irina Vlah attended the grand opening ceremony.

200,000 people worked in 42 months’ time

Istanbul Airport, for which almost 200,000 workers exerted efforts since the groundbreaking ceremony, is planned to offer employment to 225,000 people directly and indirectly in 2025. The Istanbul Airport Economic Impact Report prepared in 2016 suggests that the economic value created of airport related activities in 2025 will correspond to 4.89% of the GNP.

First flight to Ankara!

Turkish Airlines will fly back and forth to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Azerbaijan‘s Baku and Ankara, Antalya and İzmir every day, holding the code ISL until December 31.

The first flight following the inauguration will be to Ankara at 11:10 on Wednesday, October 31 to Ankara with a special airplane. The “big bang” aeronautical service transition from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Istanbul Airport will commence on December 30 and end on December 31.

Defies the world with its size…

Istanbul Airport well overrides its competitors with its size. Istanbul Airport will have the capacity to serve 90 million people by October 29 and 200 million passengers per year once all phases are completed. Currently Atlanta Airport is the busiest airport serving the highest number of passengers with 104 million passengers per year.

Istanbul Airport is worth 80 Eiffel Towers!

Comparing the size of Istanbul Airport against other buildings reveals highly interesting figures. The terminal building, made up of 1.4 million square meters corresponds to eight Ankara Esenboğa Airports. Moreover, 80 Eiffel Towers might be constructed with the steel of 640,000 tonnes used in the construction.

28 Yavuz Sultan Selim bridges might be constructed with the concrete of 6,700,000 cubic meters used for the construction. Istanbul Airport has roof coating of 450,000 square meters and one can coat the roof of 64 football fields with this amount.

Free parking lot until December 31

Work is underway to offer seamless and effortless transportation to the new Istanbul Airport, built up on a strong technological infrastructure. Currently it takes 30 minutes to reach the new airport from Levent via D-20 highway (Göktürk- Kemerburgaz direction).

The parking lot will be free of charge until December 31, 2018 for the people who would like to drive to the airport.

On the other hand, İstanbul Otobüs A.Ş (Istanbul Autobus Inc.) will offer transportation with 150 specially designed busses from 18 points of Istanbul. Taking the needs of the passenger and workers of Istanbul Airport into consideration, almost 50 trips have been planned including 10 trips for every line per day. Busses will carry passengers from 17 centers within 15 provinces within Istanbul.

Gayrettepe-Kağıthane-Kemerburgaz-Göktürk-İhsaniye İstanbul Airport underground line will become operational by 2020, enabling the passengers to reach the new airport in a time span of 25 minutes.

Moreover, the second underground line made up of Halkalı-Temapark-Olimpiyat-Kayaşehir (Center)-Arnavutköy (Center)-İstanbul Airport stops will enable the passengers to reach the airport from Halkalı direction.

Passenger experience blended with technology…

Since the groundbreaking, Istanbul Airport proved itself receiving nine international awards even before being opened. Leading the way in the aviation history and bringing in various new features, it has a groundbreaking terminal in terms of passenger experience where super jumbo planes such as Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 can park. Istanbul Airport, bringing in robots, artificial intelligence, face recognition and similar features to reach personal information, has been equipped with cutting-edge technological systems such as smart system, beacon, wireless internet, wireless and new generation GSM infrastructure, LTE, sensor and talking “objects”.

3,500 security personnel and 9,000 state-of-the-art cameras will provide the security within the airport. Moreover, security will be managed via the artificial tower within the terminal.

Best baggage system of the world, less waiting time

Waiting time at the baggage carousel will be shortened in Istanbul Airport. With the 42 kilometers long baggage system holding the capacity to process 10,800 pieces of baggage, the baggage gathered from 13 check-in islands will reach the planes and passenger without any further due. EBS (Early Baggage Storage System) will be operating to store the early arriving baggage, thereby making Istanbul Airport use the latest baggage store technology when compared against the other international airports.

Beyond a destination: 24/7 on

One of the most important priorities of the Istanbul Airport is to offer seamless passenger comfort and shopping experience to the passengers. To this end, life at the airport will be vibrant on a 24/7 basis. In this regard, stores covering more than 55,000m2 and a food court covering more than 32,000m2 will gather with more than 400 local and international brands under one single roof for the first time.

Authentic architecture: Showcase of Turkey

The beauty of Istanbul mosques, Turkish baths, domes and various other historical buildings are showcased in the terminal, embedding those structures into the architectural texture of the terminal. Moreover, Turkish-Islam art motifs and architecture offer beauty, texture and depth into the project.

The air traffic control tower of Istanbul Airport was designed by taking inspiration from the tulip, a symbol of Istanbul for centuries, occupying a central role in the cultural life of Turkish-Islam history. Pininfarina, an outstanding designing company having worked for Ferrari previously and AECOM, designed the 90 meters tall control tower of Istanbul Airport.