Takeoff in Turkey for Erdogan’s mega Istanbul airport

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has inaugurated an enormous new airport is Istanbul, which, complete once, is likely to become among the world’s largest.

More than 50 foreign dignitaries from at the very least 18 countries on Monday attended the lavish opening ceremony of the initial phase of the brand new facility, called Istanbul Airport, local media reported.

“Istanbul is really a beautiful jewel between two seas … that is why we called [the airport] Istanbul,” Erdogan said at the ceremony which coincided with the 95th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

“We see Istanbul Airport as investment not merely inside our country but additionally inside our region and the planet,” he added.

Erdogan said the brand new facility will continue steadily to grow for another decade until all phases are completed by 2028, in accordance with state-run Anadolu Agency.

It is expected a daily 2,000 aircraft by a lot more than 250 carriers will feel the airport by the finish of 2018 to over 350 destinations, said Anadolu.

Constructed at a short cost of $7.2bn, the brand new facility, called Istanbul airport, is likely to provide a lot more than $30.65bn of revenue for the federal government and host 90 million passengers by the finish of the 2018 or more to 200 million at completion in 2028.

According to preliminary 2017 figures from the Airport Council International, the Atlanta Airport in America hosted almost 104 million passengers last.

Next came Beijing with 95.7 million passengers, Dubai with 88.2 million, Tokyo with 85.4 million and LA with 84.5 million.

Praising Istanbul’s geographical location, a bridge between Europe and Asia, Turkish Airlines CEO Bilal Eksi said: “The opening of Istanbul New Airport will further contribute and create new opportunities to market the cultural and commercial relations between Istanbul and Hong Kong”.

Among those present at the inauguration ceremony were Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and leaders from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Albania and Serbia.

IATA has repeatedly warned that airports all over the world shall battle to cope with this expansion, and contains urged governments to create necessary investments.

According to IGA, the ongoing company in charge of constructing and operating the brand new facility in Istanbul, the airport could have three runways, and by 2028, six runways with a capacity of 500 aircraft.

Spread over a location of 76.5 million square meters, it’ll boast car parks for about 70 also,000 cars.

The airport’s maiden voyage will undoubtedly be from Istanbul to the Turkish capital, Ankara, october 31 on.

Meanwhile, Istanbul’s current main airport – named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – will stay in operation before end of the year, Erdogan said, and it will be closed to commercial flights.