This is an update to a post I wrote less than a week ago about how it was rumored that Istanbul’s new airport transition would be delayed yet again. This has now been further confirmed as @airlineroute notes that Turkish Airlines’ schedule has been updated to reflect departures from Istanbul’s old airport through April 4, 2019.
So that means the earliest we’ll see the transition is April 5, 2019, though it could very well be after that. Below is the previous post in its entirety.
Turkey is finishing construction on one of the biggest airports in the world in Istanbul at the moment. The airport will have a capacity of 90 million passengers per year, and when the entire airport project is complete (in about a decade), the airport will have a capacity of 200 million passengers per year, making it the world’s largest airport. Or at least that’s what’s supposed to happen.
Istanbul’s new airport opening delayed again
Initially the airport was supposed to be fully operational in October 2018. While the airport had a soft opening at that point (where just a few routes are operated out of the airport, mainly so they can say the airport is open), the transition was pushed back to December 2018. Then at the end of 2018 we learned that the airport would only be fully operational as of March 2, 2019.
We don’t know exactly what the issues have been up until now. I know they’ve been having some labor issues, some construction issues, and some financing issues. I’ve said all along that I wouldn’t be surprised to see the airport’s opening pushed back even further, and it looks like that is indeed happening now.
It’s being reported that Istanbul’s new airport transition may now be pushed back beyond March 2019. As of now it seems that this is just rumored, as it hasn’t officially been confirmed by any airlines.
What’s causing the further delay of Istanbul’s new airport?
There are local elections in Turkey on March 31, and there’s a fear that the airport move shortly before that could be catastrophic. It’s rumored that former prime minister Binali Yıldırım may be behind the delay. He fears that if the airport opens before the elections, it could spell disaster at the polls.
Some have said that all three airports in Istanbul will not be able to follow international air traffic control rules while operating from all three airports at heavy volumes, and have warned of serious risks related to that. I can’t personally vouch for that, obviously, but it’s an interesting point.
Equally it seems like the airport is having some real funding challenges at this point.
Turkey’s General Directorate of State Airports has just announced that she’s retiring, and that comes on the verge of the completion of this project — you’d think she’d see it through if everything was going reasonably well. She says she’s quitting due to fatigue and wanting to spend time with her family, but it’s rumored that this in fact involves political pressure, and economic problems related to the project.
Several of the investors in the airport have pulled out after racking up debt (as the project came in over budget). This debt may be transferred to Turkish Airlines, and in turn, to the government.
Bottom line
There’s obviously a lot to all of this, and there’s also politics involved. It’s anyone’s guess what’s really going on here. Assuming the opening gets pushed back to April, we’re “only” looking at a six month delay compared to the October 2018 opening date, which isn’t too bad in airport terms.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the issues get much worse. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into the next Berlin Brandenburg, but…
How delayed do you think the opening of Istanbul’s new airport will be?
(Tip of the hat to @CJClausen)
The Turkish government is slow in opening a massive-scale airport project?!?! Color me shocked. But in all seriousness I think this airport is going to turn into a corruption scandal very soon.
I am sure Recip Tayip Erdogan International will be stunning! I can’t wait to check it out!
Mix religion and politics and you have disaster. Holds true for moslem fundamentalists and unstable, violent, subhuman, white Christian nutjobs.
Turkish women are hot. Hope turkish people come to their senses soon.
I’ve had some terrific vacations in Turkey, stretching as far back as the early 1970’s. But the current political situation disgusts me to the extent that I have no plans to return to the country. Or to fly Turkish. So frankly, I couldn’t care less about their new airport.
Has there been a new airport that hasn’t had significant delays? How delayed was DEN, for example.
I was thrown in a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle 2 pounds of hash out of Turkey.
Might be flying into Ataturk for the foreseeable future. #believeitwheniseeit
Thanks for the tip of the hat Ben
Not as bad as Berlin. Well, so far, lol
Yeah Berlin Brandenburg came to mind after seeing this. But that’s a next level example of incompetence.
Debit is horny online again
I see the haters are out. I’m sure all the sarcastic posters are experts at constructing and operating massive airports. Eat your hearts out Turkey haters, tourism was 28% in 2018, the whole country is crawling with tourist. Go google most visited countries while you’re at it.
Let’s get to the real issue. Is the new business lounge open? If so, any reviews?
@Slomichael
I have been to the new airport in November for a domestic flight to Ankara. The new lounges weren’t open yet, as a business class/ star gold member you were allowed to take 3 items or so from a shop such as a sandwich and a drink.
I think the new lounges will open with the opening of the airport, even though they said it would open in the “upcoming weeks” .
I made a video about the experience and the “lounge” at the new airport for anyone who’s interested.
https://youtu.be/3aeDLs7Duk0
Josh – it’s 8th. Am I meant to be impressed by that?
Josh, maybe I missed it but I don’t sense a lot of Turkey hate in the comments, maybe it’s just projection on your part. Snarky comments about an airport being delayed are par for the course and really just a way to try to get a cheap laugh, and in any case don’t reflect on Turkey as a whole, at least in terms of tourism. It’s a beautiful country and wonderful place to visit. That being said, it’s certainly a rather corrupt country so those comments are hardly debatable, and Turkey (Istanbul in particular) have had a number of public projects delayed recently, notably the Marmaray tunnel, so not really a surprise there would be delays here.
And Callum, 8th is pretty good for total visitors considering there are over 190 countries in the world. Add to that the political uncertainty and sometimes turmoil in the country, and that’s actually quite impressive.
Bob – The number of countries is pretty irrelevant given the vast majority of them are significantly smaller than Turkey.
I didnt say it’s bad, but given its a large country situated next to both Europe and the Middle East, is cheap and is stable in comparison to the rest of the Middle East/Muslim world, I’m not overly impressed. They’d need to majorly screw up to not be ranked that high.
Well it’s already better than Brandenburg, since some flights departed from the airport already. It’s more like Hamad, a prestigious mega airport for a big middle eastern carrier which ends up being slightly delayed, but fine in the end.
I’d love to know the name of that one new airport which opened on time, in budget and without any issues.
Callum, not really trying to debate you, but I don’t think the point was to be impressed, rather to demonstrate that it gets a ton of tourists. And it’s the 37th largest country by area (much of which is inaccessible/close to extremely unstable countries), 19th by population, so it’s still hitting above its weight if you’re going by that measure. And being more stable than the rest of the Middle East isn’t saying much. Given that there was recently an attempted coup there, there are periodic terrorist attacks, and the political situation is less than ideal, I’d say that’s quite good.
In any event, I’m not really sure why Josh thought that was relevant to this article at all. The airport is clearly a mess, as are many infrastructure projects in Turkey (and other countries!). I make fun of US airpots all the time, as do many other Americans, and I don’t think we view this as an attack on our country as a whole. Josh’s reaction seemed overly defensive.
My issue with the delay is the uncertainty when booking to go through Istanbul on Turkish. I did notice in December that the lounge showers were NOT in good shape (mold EVERYWHERE) and assumed it was due to them thinking they were moving to the new airport. I shudder to think what it’s like now… which reminds me, exactly WHY do no lounge shower rooms have exhaust of any kind? You get out of warm shower feeling clean and then are covered in sweat ten minutes later…
I would LOVE to see photos of the new lounge….
Turkish is my primary international carrier. I am just hoping the new Dreamliner is delivered in time for the DC flight. I already booked a flight in October to check out the new business class and to visit Budapest. As for the airport I can deal with the old one for now. It’s not the most pleasant experience, but I am used to it and know how to deal with it. I am just glad they are sticking with Do & Co catering.
I literally bought a ticket an hour ago scheduled to arrive in Istanbul Ataturk Airport on April 6th! Let’s see which airport we will land.
I have one that will transit through Istanbul on April 5…and from what I’ve read, the airport will need to close 1-2 days for the transition to occur.
@Debit I am glad to see Turkey not falling into the trap of Western secular democracy. It never worked in that region and it never will.
@speedbird
I don’t mind moslem theocracy in the middle east if I am allowed to emigrate there and have 4 wives as my properties and get a good nice pension every month from the government to not become violent.
Can someone explain to me who Debit is or their history? I don’t understand how Ben is the target blog for this trolling.
Whew. I had just booked LAX-IST-TLV for March 6 (my wife) and me (March 10), and she wasn’t thrilled about flying TK to begin with…flying her thru an airport debacle, solo, would have been big trouble for me!
Any chance of posting a map/location for this new airport? I can’t seem to find anything, not even their official website!
Here we go @MattJ
Location of the airport in Istanbul:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.2679837,28.734092,8725m/data=!3m1!1e3
Airport website:
https://www.istanbulhavalimani.com/en
Airport map:
https://www.istanbulhavalimani.com/en/passenger/airport-guide/airport-map
As a person living in Istanbul, I can tell you guys, that there is no official information that the operational moving from old airport to the new one will delay again. Even so, I don’t think it would be a major problem. The problem was that the grand opening in October was too early as Erdogan has pushed the opening for that date which was obviously too early. Anyway, plan is still for March in a few days, if they announce another delay, Then April maybe May. But at the end we are getting close and the airport will be fully operational soon.
Any fresh news on the delay? TK updated schedules to IST up to April as rumored.
Seems to be the move has been delayed until April 5th.