Istanbul New Airport

A consortium comprised of three Turkish companies has won a tender to offer shuttle bus transfer services from and to the new Istanbul airport, which is slated to open on Oct. 29, the day Turkey marks Republic Day.

Istanbul's Atatürk Airport saw the highest increase in passenger numbers in July out of all five major European airports, the European airport trade body announced on Sept. 13. 

Other airports in Turkey also showed significant increase in passenger numbers in July, including Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen, the Antalya Airport and Ankara's Esenboğa, according to the report.

The number of passengers passing through Turkish airports rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2017, the country's airport authority stated on Aug. 7.        

Some 250 airlines will fly to Istanbul's third airport once it is completed, according to the head of the airport construction company, who added that flights from the airport will be made to more than 350 destinations. 

Unifree Duty Free ??letmecili?i, the operator firm of the duty free areas in Istanbul's to-be-built new airport, will pay rent up to 500 million euros per year to Istanbul Grand Airport (?GA), the operator, if the shopping facilities reach their full potential. 

The construction of Istanbul's new airport, which is being billed as the world's largest, is taking place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with more than 13,000 workers from 16 countries.

The third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul will be ready to open in August, while the city's third airport will open in February 2018, Transport, Communications and Maritime Minister Binali Y?ld?r?m said on Feb. 24. 

According to statistics released by the Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe), Istanbul's Atatürk has become the third busiest airport of Europe in 2015 with a 9.1 percent increase of passengers, bringing its total to nearly 62 million visitors.

The senior management of IGA, the company established to construct and operate the third airport of Istanbul, said local companies will be preferred in 10-billion-euro construction for the airport. 

Thousands of passengers were stranded on Jan. 1 in Istanbul's two main airports due to continuous heavy snowfall, adding to the cancelation of around 300 scheduled flights on Dec. 31, 2015.

"We have been waiting for two days. There are some 400 people here. If they notified us 24 hours before we would have adjusted our plans," a passenger named Ahmet Arslan told Do?an News Agency.