Ataturk airport to close for 12 hours Saturday as new Istanbul airport opens
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Commercial air travel through Istanbul will be closed for passenger flights between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, as Ataturk International Airport moves its operations to Istanbul Airport.
"All scheduled flights at Ataturk Airport will end on April 6, 2019 at 02:00, and any previously planned flights will continue from 14:00 onwards from Istanbul Airport on the same day," reads a splash page on the Turkish Airlines website.
State flagship carrier Turkish Airlines is describing it as the beginning of "the Great Move." The new Istanbul Airport (ISL) in Arnavutkoy district is located about 30 kilometers north of Ataturk Airport (IST).
"We are conducting the biggest transportation operation in the aviation history," said Ilker Ayci, Turkish Airlines chairman on Friday, according to state-run Analdolu Agency.
The airline said 38 percent of the moving operation has already been completed and the whole process is expected to take 45 hours.
Tight security measures have been implemented to ensure "over 10,000 pieces of equipment weighing 47,300 tons" safely make the transition.
Ataturk Airport's final flight will be Istanbul-Singapore on Turkish airlines.
New Istanbul Airport is dubbed "the world's new hub." It officially began some flights on October 29, 2018.
It plans to have a full annual capacity of 200 million passengers according to Anadolu, following the completing of four phases which has plans for six runways by 2028.
For many in the Kurdistan Region travelling to Europe or North America, Istanbul is a key transit point.
Ataturk International Airport was the 17th busiest in the world in 2018, transiting 68.2 million passengers, according to CNN.
The only busier in the region was Dubai International Airport at 89.1 million, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States again topped the list at 107.4 million passsengers.