Istanbul Airport stays true to its history

The experience of passengers travelling to Istanbul, and other destinations with Turkish Airlines, is set to be enhanced by the new Istanbul Airport near the Black Sea shore.

The airport has a total area of 76.5-million square metres, built at a cost of à10.2bn. As the main tenant, Turkish Airlines operates daily from Johannesburg and Cape Town, and four times a week out of Durban, and will take up 75% of the new airport’s capacity.

At the opening ceremony in October, Ilker Ayci, chairman of the airline’s board, said the new hub was an important part of Turkish Airlines’ future growth strategy and would offer a seamless experience to both international and domestic passengers.

Once completed, the airport will offer flights to more than 300 destinations and handle up to 200-million passengers a year.

One of the airport’s key designs is its tulip-shaped air traffic control tower.

The tulip is both an old symbol of Istanbul and an important cultural reference in Turkish-Islamic history.