Atatürk Airport officially designated as tech hub
ISTANBUL
The terminal buildings of Atatürk Airport, once the principal aviation hub of Istanbul, have now been officially designated as a “technopark” to be repurposed to host an entrepreneurship center, according to a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette.
In a statement regarding this new designation, Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır noted that the technopark, established under the aegis of the ministry’s technology development zone plan, is poised to emerge as the world’s largest technology entrepreneurship complex.
"Thousands of tech ventures will be conceived, nurtured and connected with investors within this ecosystem," he stated.
“Within this colossal center, we shall also inaugurate a science hub, an academy for software and artificial intelligence and a series of technology ateliers tailored to diverse age cohorts.”
Originally inaugurated as an airfield in 1912, Atatürk Airport ceased all commercial passenger operations on April 6, 2019, following the transfer of all scheduled flights to the newly constructed Istanbul Airport.
By 2022, the site was also decommissioned for cargo operations. Once lauded for registering the steepest increase in flight traffic across Europe, the airport is currently being reimagined with civic-oriented projects such as the expansive National Garden project and a hospital erected during the COVID-19 period.
It also occasionally hosts some major events such as the country’s aviation and aerospace festival Teknofest.
Although no longer active in civilian aviation, Atatürk Airport sporadically assumes global prominence by hosting high-impact events such as TEKNOFEST, underscoring its enduring symbolic and infrastructural significance.
