(AA Photo)
Istanbul Airport is expanding its runway and cargo facilities as international passenger traffic rises, while operator İGA plans to increase annual terminal capacity to 120 million passengers.
The airport handled 56.65 million passengers in January-August, up about 2 percent from a year earlier, according to provisional data from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).
International passenger numbers rose about 3 percent to 44.71 million, accounting for nearly four-fifths of the total. Domestic traffic was broadly unchanged at 11.93 million. The airport serves more than 340 destinations through over 110 airlines, according to the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.
Its summer traffic also put it ahead of London Heathrow.
Istanbul handled about 8.15 million passengers in July, compared with 7.9 million at the British hub, making it Europe’s busiest airport by passenger numbers that month.
On Aug. 16, Istanbul recorded its busiest day, with 290,287 passengers and 1,739 flights.
The latest addition to its infrastructure is a fourth main runway, due to open on Sept. 18 at a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.
The 2,820-meter runway will be the airport’s first running east-west. It will bring the total to six, alongside three main and two reserve runways aligned north-south.
“We will shorten taxiing and flight times, especially for domestic flights and eastbound routes,” Uraloğlu said, adding that this would save fuel and time.
Uraloğlu said the east-west alignment would give controllers more options in crosswinds and other adverse weather conditions, helping improve on-time departures. Its proximity to hangars would also allow faster, more independent general aviation operations, he said.
The airport has already increased the number of aircraft it can handle through changes to runway operations. In April 2025, it became the first in Europe to introduce simultaneous operations on three independent parallel runways. The change raised hourly capacity from 120 to 148 aircraft movements, according to the European air traffic management organization Eurocontrol.
The terminal expansion is part of the airport’s second phase of development. İGA chief executive Selahattin Bilgen outlined the plan in December, saying adjustments within the existing terminal would be needed to accommodate 120 million passengers annually. He also set a target of close to 90 million passengers for 2026.
Cargo investment is expanding alongside the passenger business. The airport handled more than 2 million tons of cargo last year, according to Bilgen. Turkish Cargo, the freight division of Turkish Airlines, is enlarging its SmartIST terminal at the airport to handle 4.5 million tons annually.
The expanded cargo facility will have 370,000 square meters of enclosed space, with automated storage and handling systems designed to speed up processing. German equipment supplier Lödige Industries, which supplied systems for the terminal’s first phase, was selected again for the expansion.
