Istanbul’s 3rd airport to welcome 1st plane by Feb 2018

By Bahattin Gonultas and Dilara Zengin

ANKARA (AA) - Istanbul’s third airport will welcome its first plane before February of next year, according to Turkey’s transport, maritime, and communications minister.

Speaking at Anadolu Agency’s Editors’ Desk in Ankara on Wednesday, Ahmet Arslan said: “We will land the first plane at Istanbul’s third airport before February 2018.”

The official opening of the new under-construction airport in Istanbul, the first phase, will be on Oct. 29 of next year, he said. Oct. 29 is the day Turkey marks Republic Day, commemorating the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.

Around 68 percent of the airport construction has been completed, Arslan added. "Workers are working day and night to finish the project on time," he said.

When it is completed next year, the new airport will assume most of the passenger traffic from Ataturk International Airport, hosting 250 airlines flying to more than 350 destinations, making it one of the world’s largest transport hubs.

When the first phase is completed in 2018, it will have the world's largest terminal under one roof, with a gross floor area of nearly 11 million square feet and the ability to serve 90 million passengers a year.

With the completion of all phases, the airport is expected to be the busiest one in the world, with flights to over 350 destinations and, eventually, an annual capacity of 200 million passengers.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport is the busiest airport in Turkey, with 41.6 million passengers in the first 8 months of 2017, according to the state airports authority. It was followed by Sabiha Gokcen Airport with 20.5 million passengers, Istanbul's main air hub on the Asian side.