Istanbul New Airport

Istanbul New Airport İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı
IATA: none – ICAO: none
Summary
Operator	IGA (Istanbul Grand Airport) Havalimanı İşletmesi A.Ş.
Serves	Istanbul, Turkey
Location	Arnavutköy
Opened	2013: tender awarded 2015: construction commencement 29 October 2017: construction end 26 February 2018: first flight
Coordinates	41°18′04″N 28°46′36″E / 41.30111°N 28.77667°E / 41.30111; 28.77667Coordinates: 41°18′04″N 28°46′36″E / 41.30111°N 28.77667°E / 41.30111; 28.77667
Website	igairport.com
Map
Istanbul New Airport Location of airport in Turkey
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m 11.482 3.750 x 60 m
Statistics
Annual Passenger Capacity 150 million

Istanbul New Airport (Turkish: İstanbul Yeni Havalimanı), or Third Airport (Turkish: Üçüncü Havalimanı),^[1] is an international airport under construction in Arnavutköy district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey.

The airport is planned as the largest airport in the world,^[2] with a 150 million passenger annual capacity,^[3] and was planned due to lack of capacity in the existing airports of Istanbul.^[4] It will be the third international airport to be built in Istanbul after Istanbul Atatürk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. Atatürk Airport will be closed down once the new airport is operational.^[5] As of December 2016, 40% of the construction of the airport was completed.^[6]

Origins of and need for Project

The existing Atatürk Airport, Istanbul's main airport, located on the European side of Istanbul, is surrounded by urban Istanbul and is incapable of cost effective expansion to meet increasing demand. Additionally, there is an increasing problem of air traffic congestion. Atatürk Airport itself became the third busiest airport in Europe in 2015, edging out Frankfurt Airport.

There is no space to build an additional runway on the Atatürk Airport site, as the airport is within the city of Istanbul. Industrial areas are situated north of the airport, with residential areas to the west and east of it. Because of the limited capacity, the Turkish Airspace Authority does not allow additional cargo or charter flights to the airport. Airlines that want to start new routes or add additional flights cannot do so. Due to lack of slots and parking spaces, some of Turkish Airlines' aircraft are based in Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which is on the Asian side of Istanbul. Sabiha Gökçen Airport itself is already at maximum terminal capacity of 25 million passengers, and handled 28 million passengers in 2015 after posting traffic growth rates averaging over 20% a year since 2013.

In 2014, the two Istanbul airports handled more than 80 million passengers, with almost 90 million passengers in 2015.^[7] With growth of traffic at both continuing into February 2016, particularly at Sabiha Gökçen Airport, well over 90 million passengers could travel through the Istanbul area airports in 2016 alone.

In terms of area airports, the four London-area airports serve around 150 million passengers a year, while the three Paris-area airports serve around 100 million passengers a year. The two Istanbul airports are, as of early 2016, currently growing at a rate where they are, combined, likely to overtake Paris in 2017 on an area-airport basis.

Location

The new airport is constructed at the intersection of junction roads of Arnavutköy, Göktürk and Çatalca, north of European side of Istanbul between the Black Sea regions of Yeniköy and Akpınar. The construction zone is a 7,659-hectare region near Lake Terkos. Some 6,172 hectares of this area is state-owned forest. The distance between Istanbul New Airport and Atatürk Airport is approx. 35 km (22 mi) as the crow flies. The area encompasses old open-pit coal mines, which are to be filled up with soil.^[8]

The project

Location of Istanbul New Airport seen from Istanbul as well as the city's two current airports

The tender for construction and plan for up to 17-year contract until 2030 for operation of the facility was held on May 3, 2013.^[3] The project is made up of four construction stages. If all stages are completed, the airport could then be the biggest airport of the world with a passenger capacity of 150 million passengers. The first stage of construction is planned to finish within 42 months of the handover of the area. Total project cost is expected to be approximately €7 billion, excluding financing costs. It has guaranteed 342 million passengers for 12 years.

At the bidding session on May 3, 2013, from fifteen Turkish and two foreign companies that were qualified as bidders, only four showed up. The Turkish joint venture consortium of Cengiz-Kolin-Limak-Mapa-Kalyon won the tender for Istanbul's third airport, and were obliged to pay the government €26.142 billion including value-added tax for a 25-year lease starting from 2018. The completion of the construction's first stage is officially set for 2018, 42 months after the finalization of the tender approval.^[8] The groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2014,^[9] but construction only started in May 2015 after the official handover of the land.^[5]

First Stage (estimated late 2017) ^[3]

• A main terminal with a total passenger capacity of 90 million, with an area of 680,000 m² (7,300,000 sq ft)
• Second terminal building or two satellite terminals with an area of 170,000 m² (1,800,000 sq ft)
• 88 aircraft passenger bridges at terminals
• Indoor parking with 12,000 vehicles capacity
• 3 independent runways
• 8 parallel taxiways
• Approximately 4,000,000 m² (43,000,000 sq ft) of apron space
• 3 technical blocks
• 1 air traffic control tower
• VIP Lounge
• Cargo and general aviation terminals
• Other services including hospitals, prayer rooms, convention centers

Second Stage^[3]

• 1 runway
• 1 parallel taxiway

Third Stage^[3]

• A terminal with a capacity of 30 million passengers, built at sea side in an area of 500,000 m² (5,400,000 sq ft)
• 1 runway
• 1 parallel taxiway
• Apron

Fourth stage^[3]

• A terminal with a capacity of 30 million passengers, built in an area of 340,000 m² (3,700,000 sq ft)
• 1 runway

Upon completion (estimated before 2030)^[3]

• 6 runways
• 16 taxiways
• 150 million passengers capacity – can be extended to 200 million in future^[10]
• 1,500,000 m² (16,000,000 sq ft) indoor area
• 165 aircraft passenger bridges at all terminals
• 4 terminal buildings, with rail access between terminals
• 3 technical blocks
• 1 air traffic control tower
• 8 ramp control towers
• A 6,500,000 m² (70,000,000 sq ft) apron with 500 aircraft parking capacity
• VIP Lounge
• Cargo and general aviation terminals
• State Palace
• Indoor and outdoor parking with a capacity of approx. 70,000 cars
• Aviation medical center
• Aircraft rescue and firefighting stations
• Garage buildings
• Hotels
• Convention centers
• Power plants
• Water treatment and waste facilities

Controversy

As stated by the Forestry Ministry, a study conducted on the environmental impact of the project and published in April 2013, reports that there are a total of 2,513,341 trees in the area and 657,950 of them will need to be cut indispensably while 1,855,391 trees will be moved to new places.^[8]

The Turkish Chamber of Environmental Engineers (ÇMO) has taken the project tender to court on grounds that the project violated the existing legislation for the preparation of the environmental impact assessment report.^[8]

In February 2014, an Istanbul administrative court ordered suspension of the construction of İstanbul's third airport.^[11] However, the groundbreaking ceremony took place a few months later, on 7 June 2014.^[12]

See also

• Istanbul Canal
• Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge
• Northern Marmara Motorway

References

External links

• Official project website