Turkey has long been engaged in an incredibly large construction project. It involves the construction of a new airport, unofficially called Istanbul New Airport. What makes the airport unique is its capacity, which also makes it officially competitive with Schiphol Airport.
Indeed, after its opening, the airport's capacity should reach 90 million passengers. In a few years, the airport should be able to handle even more passengers, namely 150 million. By comparison, Dubai airport handles around 88.2 million passengers every year.
Competition for Schiphol
Schiphol, along with Frankfurt, London and Paris, is one of the most important airports in Europe. And especially in terms of transfer passengers. As many as 75% of all passengers flying at Schiphol are passengers who transfer there to another flight. Istanbul, as well as Dubai and Abu Dhabi are trying to compete with Schiphol to take over that hub function.
Built in phases
Istanbul New Airport is being built in several phases. This cannot be otherwise, simply because the construction project is so large. The first phase is nearing completion. This phase will result in two runways and give the airport a capacity of 90 million passengers.
The second phase should be completed in 2023. After this phase, the airport will be able to handle 30 million additional passengers. The second phase will be followed by another construction phase. When this phase is also completed, Istanbul New Airport should be able to handle as many as 150 million passengers. After this phase, the airport should have six parallel runways and Istanbul New Airport should even be able to handle 200 million passengers per year.
Airport partially opened
The opening of Istanbul New Airport was scheduled for late October. Actually, at this time the entire airport should be opened, but this did not succeed. Therefore, only part of the airport is now open. The other part is still under heavy construction.
Because the airport is not yet fully open, the old Atatürk Airport will remain in operation for a while. According to Istanbul New Airport management, this should change before the end of the year. The management has indicated that by December 31, 2018, all traffic should be moved from Atatürk Airport to Istanbul New Airport. The question is whether this will succeed.
Schiphol expansion
These developments make it increasingly important for Schiphol to expand as well. Should Istanbul Airport succeed in successfully competing with Schiphol's hub function, it will be at the expense of economic growth and employment in the Netherlands. For the time being, there is a reason why many international companies are located in the Netherlands, partly due to the good connections that Schiphol offers. Of course, expansion of Schiphol must take into account its surroundings and local residents. An airport in the North Sea may be an option, although the Netherlands must take nature into account.
Should you soon business travel to Istanbul then of course we will inform our customers in case of any changes.
