For years travellers have been using hubs at the likes of Doha, Dubai and Amsterdam to connect between Europe and Asia, with Istanbul's Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports suffering from congestion and delays despite the city's well-placed location straddling both continents.
Enter Istanbul airport (also known as iGA – Istanbul Grand airport) which began operations in October 2018 and aims to be the world's largest airport once its four phases of construction are complete in 2028.
The airport took over from Ataturk as Istanbul's main airport in April 2019, adopting the IST code as well. It occupies 76.5 million sqm with an “under one roof” design, meaning that there is only one terminal – spanning 1.4 million sqm – for both domestic and international departures, plus three independent runways, an air control tower and various facilities. That said, there will be separate terminal buildings for VIPs and private jets in due course.
The airport will have five north-south parallel runways and one east-west runway by 2028, and the capacity to
