Work is to begin on a new airport to serve Istanbul which will grow to accommodate up to 150 million passengers per year.
Despite already being served by Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airport, the infrastructure at both is not capable of expanding meeting future demand, and so it has been decided to build the new facility on a former mine site on the Black Sea coast near the city.
The airport will initially open in 2017, capable of handling 90 million passengers.
By the time all phases are complete, it will have six runways, and be capable of handling 150 million passengers, putting it ahead of Atlanta Airport, which is currently the world’s largest in terms of passengers.
Istanbul is expecting huge demand in its airport services as national carrier Turkish Airlines expands at a great pace, turning the city into an east-west transfer point. The city is also due to host the Summer Olympics in 2020.
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