Baku, Azerbaijan, May 31
By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:
Construction of Istanbul’s third airport is completed by 90.5 percent, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend on May 31.
The final work within the airport construction is currently underway, according to the ministry.
"It is expected that the plane of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will land at the new airport in Istanbul on June 22," the ministry said.
The first control flight was carried out at the third airport in Istanbul on May 29 under the control of the General Directorate of State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI). The testing of the first flight in the third airport was held successfully.
The third airport is being built near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul.
Initially, it will serve 90 million passengers a year. The new airport will annually serve about 150 million passengers by 2023.
After commissioning, 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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