Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The first control flight has been carried out at the third airport in Istanbul, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI) said in a statement.
It is noted in the statement that, the flight was carried out under the control of DHMI.
"The testing of the first flight in the third airport was held successfully", said the message of DHMI.
The Ataturk airport will cease to operate from October 31 this year.
The construction of the third airport in Istanbul has been completed by over 88 percent.
The third airport is being built near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul.
Currently, flights from Turkey to 282 destinations are carried out. After commissioning of the third airport in Istanbul, the number of flight destinations in Turkey will increase from 282 to 350.
Under the project, the first runway of the new airport will be 3.7 kilometers long and 60 meters wide. The second runway will be 4.1 kilometers long and 60 meters wide.
Currently, construction and assembling work is underway to build 28 bridges and a hydrometeorological tower at the airport. More than 31,000 employees are involved in the construction.
About 300 passenger and service elevators will be installed at Istanbul’s third airport.
Airport City, which will include a network of shops, logistics and exhibition centers, will be also built at the new airport. Limak-Kolin-Cengiz-MaPa-Kalyon consortium of companies won the tender for construction of the airport.
The construction will cost 10 billion Turkish liras, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend earlier. Turkey’s Ziraat Bankasi allocated 1.54 billion euros for the airport’s construction, while Halkbank and Vakifbank – 1 billion euros, Denizbank – 500 million euros, Garanti and Finansbank – 300 million euros each in October 2017.
The first airport in Turkey was built in 1912 and was used for military purposes.
For the first time the Istanbul airport was opened for international flights in 1953 and in 1985 it was renamed in honor of founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
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