It was due to open in November 2018, then in December and finally in March 2019. It seems that Istanbul's new airport will have to postpone its full opening once again. In fact, theofficial opening last October had been celebrated for purely political reasons, just to prove that the current President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had kept his promises. We now learn that Istanbul airport is suffering from a number of problems. The watertightness of the floors seems uncertain, with vehicles having been under water following flooding earlier this year. It would also appear that the civil aviation services are having difficulty in managing rapidly expanding air traffic. Finally, the platform is very indebted and many of the company's shareholders IGA manager have withdrawn. Local newspapers regularly mention the takeover of the shares by Turkish Airlines' property investment subsidiary.
However, the hub is partly operational, currently hosting 13 to 16 daily flights, all operated by the national carrier Turkish Airlines. In its first phase, it will be able to accommodate the equivalent of 90 million passengers a year in a 1.4 million m² terminal. 88 aircraft will have direct access to the terminal via a covered walkway.
Istanbul airport will eventually have six runways and a capacity of 200 million passengers. A metro should serve the platform, opening in 2020.
Scheduled to open on 3 March, internal information from Turkish Airlines already points to a further delay. Istanbul will be holding municipal elections at the end of March. This has nothing to do with the airport, except that no politician wants to risk problems at the airport before the election...
How long will it actually take? While some local newspapers are talking about a two-year delay, a further two to three months could be enough to avoid any technical problems. For business travellers to Istanbul, landing at the current Ataturk airport is a lesser evil. The airport is very well connected to the city centre, which can be reached in 30 minutes, including by metro, and many hotels are also located around the current airport.
