Lauded to become one of the busiest international airports in the world and at a cost of $11.7 billion and 27 lives, the new Istanbul Airport finally opens after numerous delays.
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opened the new airport located just outside Istanbul on Monday, October 29th, telling the assembled dignitaries, guests and media that it will be called 'Istanbul Airport. He also said that the airport will be able to handle 90 million passengers a year, and can be expanded to accommodate as many as 200 million in the future.
Originally it had been promised by the transport ministry that all flights would transfer from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport to the new airport within 48 hours of it opening. However, that has changed and the airport will have a very soft introduction to operating. Just a few flights have transferred to the airport, mostly a few domestic flights, plus international rotations to North Cyprus and Azerbaijan. It is understood that other flights will start to migrate to the new airport during January.
(Image Turkish Presidents Office)
