World’s Biggest Airport Planned for Istanbul

Shangri-La Bosphorus, IstanbulThe Turkish Transport Minister has unveiled plans for a new Istanbul airport that will dwarf Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, now the busiest in the world. The new airport will have six runways and a capacity of 150 million passengers a year. (Istanbul’s existing airports, Ataturk and Sabiha, have a capacity of 45 million and 15 million respectively.) At a cost of $5.6 billion, the new airport will be the largest in the world, its first phase expected to be completed in 2017.

A recent article in The Telegraph explains that the project will help the country’s bid for the 2020 Olympics, and also enable Turkish Airlines to expand operations: “The carrier already flies to 216 destinations, fewer than only five other airlines around the world (United, Delta, American, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa).” Moreover, as tourism in Turkey continues to take off, the new airport will be most welcome.

Pictured: The new Shangri-La Hotel Istanbul, slated to open this spring on the Bosphorus.