Travel News

New, Mega Istanbul Airport Opening Delayed Again?

New Istanbul airport
Written by Charlie

The new, mega Istanbul Airport is scheduled to open March 3. However, it seems that this grand opening may be delayed again for the 3rd time in as many months.

The new Istanbul airport in Turkey, a monstrosity which could become one of the busiest airports in the world, has already missed several opening dates. Now, according to one article and their sources, it appears that the airport’s official opening could be delayed yet again.

New, Mega Istanbul Airport Opening Delayed Again?

After it missed its last opening date of December 31, the date of March 3 was set for the grand opening (they have been flying several commercial flights to some destinations over the past few months). However, it appears that there may be some issues that could push the official opening off until April of this year.

Security Concerns + Politics

According to this article, this may have to do with the combination of security concerns regarding three airports operating in the same city and elections on March 31. In the same article, it mentions that there are other issues with contractors ditching the project.

On this website, they say that the new date of the opening would be either April 2 or April 7. It is unclear who the request actually came from for yet another delay in the opening.

Oh well, good thing I did not book any flights for this next opening date! 🙂

Featured image courtesy of IG Airports

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About the author

Charlie

Charlie has been an avid traveler and runner for many years. He has run in marathons around the world for less than it would cost to travel to the next town - all as a result of collecting and using miles and points. Over the years, he has flown hundreds of thousands of miles and collected millions of miles and points.
Now he uses this experience and knowledge to help others through Running with Miles.

2 Comments

  • My in-laws are flying Lufthansa out of IST on March 1st and returning March 25th. They called TK the other day to confirm which airports they’d actually be using, and they were told that they’d be using Ataturk for both outbound and inbound.

    • Thanks for that data point! Good thing they checked! I heard about some people getting taken to the wrong airport because many taxi drivers in Istanbul still don’t know the new airport is accepting some flights!