Date of Transfer to 3rd Airport Announced, Again

Click to read the article in Turkish

The date of transfer from Atatürk Airport to 3rd Airport, which was named İstanbul Airport, has been announced officially. According to the announcement, the transfer will begin on March 3 at 02.59 a.m. and end on March 3 at 12.00 a.m.

The Atatürk Airport will be closed to scheduled, non-scheduled, domestic and international flights as of March 3.

The program of the transfer has been shared with the world with a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen). It was also published on the European Aeronautical Information Services Database.

Transfer will take 45 hours

According to the NOTAM, the transfer will be done gradually and take 45 hours.

Within the 45-hour time, both airports will operate on reduced capacity, with 35 landings and 35 departures an hour.

Date of transfer was postponed

According to the plans of the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ), the transfer was to be done between December 30 and December 31, 2018.

The transfer was postponed on December 18. The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure announced on December 21 that the works related to the transfer will be accelerated as of January 1.

About the 3rd Airport

The construction of the 3rd İstanbul Airport officially started on May 4, 2015 and is scheduled to finish in 2023. The first stage of the airport out of six, was opened on October 29, 2018.

The tender was won by the İstanbul Grand Airport (İGA), which was established by the Limak/Kolin/Mapa/Kalyon Joint Venture Group. The tender price, which includes construction, operation and transfer, was 26 billion 140 million Euro, including the Value-Added-Tax (VAT).

The İstanbul Grand Airport (İGA) will pay a rent of 26 billion Euro in total in 25 years. It amounts to a yearly rent of 1.1 billion Euro, including the VAT.

The first stage of the airport has a 90-million passenger capacity.

When the construction of all stages has been completed, the airport has been planned to have a capacity of 200 million passengers in a year.

The total area of the airport is 76.5 million square-meters.

According to the Presidency Commmunications Center, between 2013 and 2018, 52 deadly occupational accidents have occured in the construction of th airport, which means that at least 52 workers have lost their lives in the construction over the last five years.

(TP/VK)