Istanbul Atatürk Airport
Istanbul Atatürk Airport
Istanbul Atatürk Airport İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | General Directorate of State Airports (DHMİ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | TAV Airports | ||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Istanbul, Turkey | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Yeşilköy, Bakırköy, Istanbul | ||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1912 (as airfield) 1953 (as airport)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | April 6, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hub for |
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| Elevation AMSL | 163 ft / 50 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°58′34″N 028°48′51″E [51] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.ataturkairport.com [52] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||||||
  ISL Location within Istanbul  ISL ISL (Turkey)  ISL ISL (Europe) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2018) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Turkish AIP at Eurocontrol Turkey[3] | |||||||||||||||||||
Istanbul Atatürk Airport (IATA: ISL, ICAO: LTBA) (former IATA code: IST) (Turkish: İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı) is a general aviation, business, and state aircraft airport in Istanbul. It closed on April 6, 2019, transferring commercial passenger flights to Istanbul Airport.
First opened in 1912 in San Stefano (now Yeşilköy) as a military airfield, on the European side of the city, it is located 24 km (15 mi) west[6] of the city centre. The airport was originally named Yeşilköy Airport. In the 1980s, it was renamed Istanbul Atatürk International Airport in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. It served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 10th-busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. In 2017, it was Europe's 5th-busiest airport after London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, having fallen from third place after a decline in passengers due to security fears.[7]
Istanbul Atatürk Airport was replaced in regards to commercial passenger functions by the newly constructed Istanbul Airport, in April 2019, in order to meet Istanbul's growing domestic and international air traffic demand as a source, destination and transit point. Both airports were used in parallel for five months from late 2018, with the new airport gradually expanding to serve more domestic and regional destinations.[8] On 6 April 2019, Atatürk's IST IATA airport code was inherited by Istanbul Airport and Atatürk Airport was assigned the code ISL after the full transfer of all scheduled passenger activities to the new airport was completed.[9] The final commercial flight, Turkish Airlines Flight 54, left Atatürk Airport on 6 April 2019 at 2.44am for Singapore.[10]
Istanbul Atatürk Airport İstanbul Atatürk Havalimanı | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | General Directorate of State Airports (DHMİ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | TAV Airports | ||||||||||||||||||
| Serves | Istanbul, Turkey | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Yeşilköy, Bakırköy, Istanbul | ||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1912 (as airfield) 1953 (as airport)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | April 6, 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hub for |
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| Elevation AMSL | 163 ft / 50 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 40°58′34″N 028°48′51″E [51] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www.ataturkairport.com [52] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||||||
ISL Location within Istanbul ISL ISL (Turkey) ISL ISL (Europe) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2018) | |||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Turkish AIP at Eurocontrol Turkey[3] | |||||||||||||||||||
Facilities
Defunct passenger terminals
Istanbul Atatürk Airport featured two passenger terminals linked to each other.[11] The former Domestic Terminal is the older and smaller of the two terminals and exclusively handled domestic flights within Turkey. It featured its own check-in and airside facilities on the upper floor, with twelve departure gates equipped with jet bridges.,[11] and five baggage reclaim belts on the ground level.[11] The former International Terminal was inaugurated in 2000 and used for all international flights. It featured a large main hall containing eight check-in isles and a wide range of airside facilities such as shops and restaurant, 34 gates equipped with jetbridges and 7 bus-boarding stands. The arrivals floor had 11 baggage reclaim belts.[11] In addition, there is a general aviation Terminal to the northwest of the passenger terminals.[12]
Cargo Terminal
The airport features a dedicated cargo terminal including facilities for the handling of radioactive and refrigerated freight.[13]
Other Facilities
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
As of April 2019, the airport no longer handles scheduled passenger flights but remains open for freight operations.
Cargo
The following cargo airlines serve the airport on a regular basis as of June 2019.
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Algérie Cargo | Algiers |
| Air France Cargo | Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| ASL Airlines Belgium | Liège |
| DHL Aviation | Leipzig/Halle |
| EgyptAir Cargo | Cairo |
| Ethiopian Airlines Cargo | Addis Ababa, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion[18] |
| FedEx Express | Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| Hong Kong Airlines Cargo | Almaty, Hong Kong, New Delhi |
| Iran Air Cargo | Tehran–Imam Khomeini |
| Lufthansa Cargo | Frankfurt, Moscow–Domodedovo |
| MNG Airlines | Almaty, Cologne/Bonn, Hahn, London–Luton, Munich, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tripoli–Mitiga |
| MyCargo Airlines | Bahrain, Hong Kong, Lahore, New York–JFK, Singapore, Tallinn |
| Royal Jordanian Cargo | Amman |
| Qatar Airways Cargo | Doha |
| Silk Way Airlines | Baku |
| Turkish Airlines Cargo | Accra, Aguadilla,[19] Algiers, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Ashgabat, Atlanta, Baghdad,[20] Baku, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Beirut, Belgrade, Bishkek, Bogotá,[19] Budapest, Cairo, Casablanca, Chennai, Chicago–O'Hare, Colombo, Dakar–Senghor,[21] Delhi, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai–Al Maktoum, Entebbe, Erbil, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Houston–Intercontinental,[19] Hyderabad, Islamabad, Kano,[19] Karachi, Khartoum, Kiev, Kinshasa, Lagos, London–Stansted, Maastricht/Aachen, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan–Malpensa, Moscow-Sheremetyevo,[22] Miami,[19] Minsk, Mumbai, Nairobi, Niš,[23] New York–JFK, São Paulo–Guarulhos,[21] Nur-Sultan, Sarajevo, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Shannon, Stockholm-Arlanda, Taipei–Taoyuan,[19] Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tehran–Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Toronto–Pearson,[19] Tunis, Tuzla, Vienna, Vilnius, Zürich |
| ULS Airlines Cargo | Barcelona, Beijing–Capital, Hong Kong, Kiev–Boryspil, Manila, Manston, Shanghai–Pudong |
| UPS Airlines | Algiers, Cologne/Bonn, Newark, Shenzhen |
| Uzbekistan Airways | Tashkent |
Statistics
Below is the passenger data and development for Istanbul Atatürk Airport for the years 2002–2018:[24]
| Year | Domestic passengers | Passenger % change | International passenger | Passenger % change | Total passenger | Passenger % change | World rank international | World rank total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018[25] | 19,170,141 |  2 | 48,811,305 |  10 | 67,981,446 | 6 | 10th | 17th |
| 2017[26] | 19,450,347 | 2 | 44,277,101 | 7 | 63,727,448 | 5 | 11th | 15th |
| 2016 | 19,099,874 | 1 | 41,019,341 | 2 | 60,119,215 | 2 | 11th[27] | 14th[28] |
| 2015[29] | 19,375,402 | 4 | 41,947,327 | 10 | 61,322,729 | 8 | 10th[30] | 11th[31] |
| 2014 | 18,754,002 | 9 | 38,200,788 | 12 | 56,954,790[32] | 11 | 9th | 13th[33] |
| 2013 | 17,224,105 | 13 | 34,096,770 | 14 | 51,320,875 | 14 | 10th | 18th |
| 2012 | 15,281,321 | 14 | 29,717,196 | 24 | 44,998,508 | 20 | 13th[34] | 21st[35] |
| 2011 | 13,604,352 | 15 | 23,847,835 | 17 | 37,452,187 | 17 | 17th | 28th |
| 2010 | 11,800,999 | 3 | 20,344,620 | 11 | 32,145,619 | 8 | 19th | 37th |
| 2009 | 11,393,645 | 1 | 18,363,739 | 8 | 29,757,384 | 4 |  | |
| 2008 | 11,484,063 | 20 | 17,069,069 | 26 | 28,553,132 | 23 | | |
| 2007 | 9,595,923 | 6 | 13,600,306 | 12 | 23,196,229 | 9 | | |
| 2006 | 9,091,693 | 21 | 12,174,281 | 3 | 21,265,974 | 10 | | |
| 2005 | 7,512,282 | 39 | 11,781,487 | 16 | 19,293,769 | 24 | | |
| 2004 | 5,430,925 | 70 | 10,169,676 | 14 | 15,600,601 | 29 | | |
| 2003 | 3,196,045 | 12 | 8,908,268 | 5 | 12,104,342 | 7 | | |
| 2002 | 2,851,487 | | 8,506,204 | | 11,357,691 | | | |
Istanbul Atatürk Airport ranked 17th in ACI statistics at the end of 2011 in terms of international traffic with almost 24 million international passengers. It ranked 29th in the world in terms of total passenger traffic with over 37.4 million passengers in 2011. Its total traffic within the last decade more than tripled, and its international traffic quadrupled.[36][37] According to data from FlightStats in 2012, the İstanbul Atatürk Airport had the most flight delays in Europe, and was ranked second in flight cancellations.[38]
Accidents and incidents
On 30 January 1975, Turkish Airlines Flight 345, crashed into the Sea of Marmara during its final approach to the airport. All 42 passengers and crew on board were killed.[39]
On 25 April 2015, Turkish Airlines Flight 1878, operated by A320-200, TC-JPE was severely damaged in a landing accident. The aircraft aborted the first hard landing, which inflicted engine and gear damage. On the second attempt at landing, the right gear collapsed and the aircraft rolled off the runway spinning 180 degrees. All on board evacuated without injury.[40]
On 28 June 2016, three terrorists killed 44 civilians by gunfire and subsequent suicide bombings, along with 239 civilians injured.[41][42] The three men arrived in a taxi cab, and opened fire at a terminal. The three men blew themselves up when police opened fire. The airport has X-ray scanners at the entrance to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited.[41][43]
Accolades
The Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists İstanbul Atatürk Airport as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects completed in the first 50 years of the chamber's existence.[44]
In the 2013 Air Transport News awards ceremony, İstanbul Atatürk Airport was named Airport of the Year.[45]
The airport was named Europe's Best Airport in the 40-50 million passenger per year category at the 2013 Skytrax World Airport Awards.[46]