Istanbul Airport: Big move up and running

Flight operations at the new airport started on Saturday. During the big move, around 47,300 tons of heavy equipment were transported, including aircraft towing vehicles, each weighing 44 tons. According to Turkish Airlines, the total amount of cargo was equivalent to the freight of 5,000 trucks. More than 1,800 employees are working on the move.

The financial viablity of the new airport will probably not be known for a decade or so. It is also a prestigious project for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who celebrated the official opening with a huge show in 2018. Its importance was also taken into account by the architects, as the tower's ambitious shape shows.

Istanbul Airport today has 90 million passengers a year. In 2028, the number is expected to rise to 200 million. The €10.5 billion ($11.2 billion) airport should by then have a capacity of 500 aircraft and handle 2,000 takeoffs and landings daily. In terms of passenger traffic, Atlanta is currently the largest airport in the world, with nearly 104 million passengers.

Turkish Airlines is moving in with 280 aircraft, 151 of which will fly over from the old Ataturk airport to the new one. Some 129 aircraft returning from home or abroad will also soon make the new airport home. Ataturk was closed on Sunday for all passenger flights. The third airport, Sabiha Gokcen, on the Asian side of the city will remain in operation.

Turkish Airlines moved into its new hub last weekend. The move began on Friday night. "It will be a morning when the sun shines on Turkish aviation and planes take off and land at Istanbul Airport," CEO Bilal Eksi said.

Istanbul now has a third airport. The largest and most important, Ataturk Airport, could not be extended due to its location in the city. Therefore, the new airport was built on a green field site outside the city. It is projected as a hub in the European-Asian air traffic and in the foreseeable future the largest airport.

After several delays, the new airport became fully operational last weekend. Although it was already inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on National Day on October 29, 2018, many parts of the facility were still under construction. Only now are flight operations completely relocated from Ataturk Airport.

Although the project was carried out almost as quickly as planned, it did not go totally smoothly. For example, the working conditions on the construction site caused protests. There were many deaths during construction and the location was also criticized because it is often windy and foggy there. In addition, air traffic could disrupt an important bird migration route between Europe and Asia.