Will Istanbul New Airport change the world of aviation?

Although not yet fully completed and not officially operational until the end of this year, Istanbul New Airport officially opened on October 29th, marking the 95th anniversary of Turkey's declaration as a republic.

These images have been updated from Istanbul New York Airport.

The total area of ​​the project is up to 76.5 million square meters.²Currently, only a few flights will be taking off, with other routes gradually being rolled out later. However, the PR team stated that the airport "is built to grow big," and therefore they expect it to handle around 200,000 or more passengers per day.

A controversial project.

The tulip-shaped control tower at the airport won first prize in the "Future Projects – Infrastructure" category at the 2016 World Architecture Festival in Berlin. Istanbul New Airport claims to be a "green" airport with its recycling and rainwater harvesting capabilities. However, several environmental groups have countered, arguing that the airport's construction has caused significant damage to forest resources.

New aviation center

By the end of December 2018, Türkiye's main airport, Ataturk International Airport, will cease operations. Instead, Istanbul New Airport will become the city's new aviation hub. Residents of the city can travel to the airport by metro, road, or high-speed train.

The importance of Istanbul New Airport

According to some European aviation experts, from an airport planning perspective, this is "an unprecedented project" in both scale and speed of implementation. The airport is expected to have a capacity of 200 million passengers – double the size of the world's current largest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Completing an airport of this scale in three and a half years is truly a challenge, at least in ensuring the timely operation of the related facilities and systems, as well as the necessary procedures and equipment for the airport to become operational.

Politically, the inauguration of the airport on the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey holds profound significance for the country and for President Erdogan. Building a new airport is very expensive (approximately $12 billion), thus raising concerns about a general decline in the Turkish economy and the labor force.

But in any case, Istanbul New Airport will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the aviation industry in the region and around the world.

Hai Hien