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The new Istanbul Airport opens for business

Posted: 30 October 2018 | | No comments yet

Istanbul New Airport has been officially opened, yet flights are not scheduled to depart until the beginning of 2019, with the exception of northern Cyprus routes.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the opening ceremony of iGA

On 29 October 2018, Istanbul’s new airport was opened by President Tayyip Erdogan. The new $11.7 billion (£9.1 billion) airport, just outside of Istanbul, is expected to be one of the world’s busiest, however, delays mean it will not be fully operational until January 2019.

The airport will be able to handle 90 million passengers a year, and can be expanded to accommodate as many as 200 million. 

Initially, however, the airport will only be used for a few flights within Turkey and to Azerbaijan and northern Cyprus – a setback for authorities hailing it as a centrepiece of the construction boom that has driven breakneck economic growth. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Erdogan said the hub would be called “Istanbul Airport”, and that it would further Turkey’s role in the integration of global economies. He continued: “With the operation of Istanbul Airport, European air space will have to be restructured,” adding that he expected it to be used for a large number of intercontinental flights.

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