Airports Turkish Airlines to switch to new Istanbul Airport in 2018

Not only will the national carrier be one of the first airlines to operate from the new Istanbul Airport, but also the biggest. Turkish Airlines scheduled its move in the 4th quarter of 2018, with the planned opening of the airport being on October 29, 2018. Test operations will commence on February 26, 2018.

At the moment, the new airport – named İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı – is still under construction. It is located on the European side of Istanbul and is set to become the biggest airport in the world.

Since both existing Istanbul airports were struggling with too little capacity, a change was needed. The new airport will be capable of handling 150 million passengers annually. If necessary at some point in time, infrastructural upgrades can ensure capacities for up to 200 million passengers per year.

This February, Istanbul New Airport started looking for employees in the security section. According to the airport, over 3000 new officers will be hired. With already 31.000 people employed at the new airport, the project is a job engine for the Istanbul region.

Furthermore, Istanbul´s new airport will become serious competition for the existing gulf airports such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In comparison, Dubai Airport handled 88,242,099 passengers in 2017, while Abu Dhabi International Airport handled approximately 23,072,017 passengers last year. The current Istanbul Ataturk Airport had a total of 63,727,448 passengers in 2017.