The massive new Istanbul Airport, which was opened in a grand ceremony in October, is set to see another delay to becoming fully operational. The date of transfer from İstanbul Atatürk Airport to İstanbul Airport, which was first announced as December 30-31, then as March 1-3, has been changed again.
According to the latest announcement, the transfer will take place on April 5-6 and Atatürk Airport will be closed as of April 7.
The airport, which officials say will be one of the world’s busiest, was declared open in October by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but only a handful of flights have been operating from the new site since then.
The construction of the 3rd İstanbul Airport officially started on May 4, 2015 and is scheduled to finish in 2023. Its first stage out of six was opened on October 29, 2018.
The airport will be able to handle 90 million passengers a year, and can be expanded to accommodate as many as 200 million, Erdogan said at the opening ceremony.
