A planned third airport in İstanbul will be built between Yeniköy and Akpınar, villages north of İstanbul's European side near the Black Sea, Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım announced on Monday.
Speaking at a meeting of Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission, Yıldırım said the airport will occupy a nearly 90,000-square-meter plot between Yeniköy and Akpınar.
Yıldırım said the new airport will have six landing fields and is expected to be completed simultaneously with a third Bosporus bridge in the city. “A tender for the construction of the airport will be offered soon before the end of this year,” he stated.
The airport will provide jobs for 100,000 people and will be so large that it will be visible from space, Yıldırım said.
İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş earlier said the new airport would have a total passenger capacity of 150 million per year.
Currently, there are two airports: İstanbul Atatürk Airport, on the European side of the city, and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, on the Asian side. Both are quite large: in 2011 İstanbul Atatürk saw more than 37 million passengers, with Sabiha Gökçen at over 13 million. However, the two airports are insufficient to meet growing domestic and international passenger demands.