A huge transfer operation in which over a period of just 45 hours flights and equipment will be switched from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport to Turkey’s new mega airport outside the commercial capital on the Black Sea coast is to start on April 5.

The transfer to the new airport, named Istanbul Airport, was under original plans to have taken place at the turn of the year but, even as officials boasted that they planned to quickly make it the busiest airport in the world, it was patently clear construction and other project targets had fallen substantially behind schedule. Critics said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had conducted something of a ‘Potemkin village’ inauguration on last October’s Proclamation Day of Ataturk’s Republic. There was particular concern from human rights groups that dozens of workers had lost their lives in what they claimed were preventable accidents at the airport construction site and that an indeterminate, but seemingly high, number of people had been killed in accidents involving construction site trucks joining the Istanbul traffic.

The level of investment that has been put into realising Istanbul Airport is uncertain, with various reports putting the total at between $7.2bn and $12bn. There is some concern that not nearly enough expenditure has yet been put into achieving good transport links between Istanbul and the airport location beyond the city.

In its first phase, it is to be able to handle 90mn passengers a year. Turkey intends to more than double that number by 2027. If that is achieved, the mega airport would indeed become the world’s busiest on current projections.

“Second place in five years”
“Istanbul Airport will rise to second place in terms of passenger numbers it serves in around five years,” Transport Minister Cahit Turhan told reporters in a briefing in the airport’s gleaming departure hall, Reuters reported. “When all phases are complete, Istanbul Airport will sit in the leader’s chair,” he added.

The airport is supposed to be fully operational on April 7 after authorities transport 10,000 pieces of equipment, from massive aircraft-towing vehicles to sensitive security sensors, across the city in a complex two-day operation, after which Ataturk Airport will close for passenger flights. Some analysts question whether the Istanbul Airport’s ultimate target of 200mn passengers a year is feasible because a second international airport, Sabiha Gokcen, will remain in operation on Istanbul’s Asian side.

Turkish Airlines hopes the new airport will allow it to expand to the point where it is on a level playing field with the big Gulf carriers.

The expansion of Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport to a capacity of 130mn passengers a year has been pushed back to 2030. Dubai-based Emirates is to one day shift to the airport, which ultimately aims to be able to handle 260mn passengers a year.