Everything you need to know about Istanbul airport

Everything you need to know about Istanbul airport

After talking about London, Paris, Amsterdam and other Italian airports it’s time to have a look at the fifth busiest airport in Europe which is the one in Istanbul. Istanbul airport is the biggest in Turkey by total number of passengers and destinations served. Let’s have a look at the Istanbul airport.

Istanbul airport and its characteristics

Long time ago Istanbul airport was a military airfield and we would have never expected that in the 21st it would have been the biggest airport in Turkey and the main international airport in Istanbul. It serves as the main hub for Turkish Airlines. There are more than 60 million passengers every year. Not only it is the fifth busiest airport in Europe but also the 11th busiest in the world because of the number of passengers traffic.

The airport is 24 km far from the city center and there are two terminals connected to each other. One is for the domestic flights and the other is for the international ones. The latter was opened in 2000. It has a lot of facilities like restaurants and shops. There is another terminal for general aviation as well.

The number of passengers is growing and growing

The plan for the future is to have a third airport in Istanbul called Istanbul New Airport. Planned as the largest airport in the world it would be able to meet the desires of all passengers. Passengers are growing every year and the plan is to build a new airport that can host a very high number of passengers, higher than the actual one. The construction started in May 2015. Probably the first part will be finished by the end of October 2018 with the first flights. The capacity of passengers will be 90 million of people.

Talking about the present of the Istanbul airport the main destinations are Athens, Moscow, Bayda and Paris. The companies who provide these destinations are Aegen Airlines, Aeroflot and Air France. Turkish Airlines provides a lot of destinations within and outside the country. The number of passengers in 2017 was 63,727,448. The percentage of growth is 7% compared to the previous year. During the last decade the number has more than tripled and the international traffic has quadrupled.

Everything you need to know about Istanbul airports

How to get to the airport and delayed flights

The metro is the best way to get to the city center or to your hotel. It costs 4 lira and it is just 10 minutes walk from the terminal. The only thing you have to do is to follow he signs of the metro.

Another way to get to Istanbul city center is by taxi. Remember to change your money in order to be able to pay the taxi driver. The costs is approximately 50 lira and the journey lasts 30 minutes but it depends on the place you want to reach.

According to data from FlightStats in 2012, the Ataturk Airport had the most number of delayed flights in Europe! In addition it was at the second position in the chart of the airports with the higher number of cancelled flights.

Talking about unpleasant events on 28th of June 2016 there was a terroristic attack in the airport. Three terrorists killed 44 civilians and 239 were injuried. After that event the security at the airport is even stricter than before.

 

If you have problems with your flight you can always contact Flycare.

Author: Grazia Maietta
Amante dei viaggi, delle lingue e della moda, sognatrice e traduttrice. Italiana di nascita ma cittadina del mondo. Attualmente vivo e lavoro in Inghilterra. La mia passione più grande è viaggiare ma anche scrivere e scattare fotografie.
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