On Saturday, June 7, in the northern part of Istanbul, not far from Lake Terkos, a ceremonial laying of the first stone in the foundation of the new, third, international airport of the Turkish metropolis took place.
According to the design documentation, the new Istanbul airport "İstanbul Yeni Havalimani" should become the largest and busiest in the world when it reaches its planned capacity. Thus, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Turkey claims that if at the initial stage the airport will be able to serve about 90 million passengers per year, then when all terminals are put into operation, it will be able to reach an unprecedented figure of 150 million passengers. Let us note for comparison that the passenger flow of the busiest airport in 2013 "Hartsfield-Jackson" (Atlanta, USA) was 94.4 million passengers.
The construction of the new Istanbul air gate will be carried out by the international consortium "Limak-Kolin-Cengiz-MaPa-Kalyon", which won the tender for a complex of construction works with a total value of 22.1 billion euros.
According to preliminary information, construction should be completed in 2018. After the airport is commissioned, it will become the main base for the largest Turkish air carrier, Turkish Airlines.
