Background Atatürk Airport was one of the busiest airports in Europe. Since 2013, it had ranked among the five busiest airports in Europe by passenger traffic. In 2017, Atatürk Airport and
Sabiha Gökçen, Istanbul's other international airport, handled over 100 million passengers combined. By comparison, 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. As Atatürk Airport was hemmed in by the city on three sides and the sea of Marmara on another, it was unable to expand to meet the growing demands placed on it. Sabiha Gökçen was also at capacity. The decision was taken to build a new airport, well away from the city to ensure ample space.
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. The project was achieved by an international design team working across different phases, but all focused on the collective vision. The architects behind the concept design were Grimshaw Architects, Nordic Office of Architecture and Haptic Architects. The lead delivery architect was Scott Brownrigg, also in charge of the interior concept design with IGA Design. Local delivery architects were Fonksiyon Mimarlik, Turgut Alton Mimarlik and Kiklop Design & Engineering. 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. 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
third-largest airport terminal building. 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 fourth and final 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. 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 the grounds that the project violated the existing legislation for the preparation of the
Environmental impact assessment (ÇED) report. However, the groundbreaking ceremony still took place a few months later, on 7 June 2014. Turkish daily
Evrensel also alleged that fatal accidents continued to occur. 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". 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 swapped with Istanbul Airport's previous code of ISL. In February 2022,
Turkish Cargo relocated all cargo flights and operations from their former base at Atatürk Airport to the new airport. == Facilities ==