The colossal Istanbul Airport, considered Europe’s largest airport by area, will bring its fourth main runway into service in the coming days, at a ceremony which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to attend, as announced yesterday, Sunday, by Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
Istanbul’s main airport continues to expand its runways and cargo facilities in response to the increase in international passenger traffic, whilst its operator, İGA, plans to increase the terminal’s capacity to 120 million passengers a year.
Indeed, according to the latest figures from the General Directorate of the State Airports Authority (DHMİ), between January and August this year alone the airport handled 56.65 million passengers, nearly 2% more than last year. International passengers rose by around 3% to 44.71 million, accounting for almost 80% of total traffic.
As for domestic traffic, it remained virtually stable at 11.93 million passengers. The volume of traffic recorded over the summer enabled it to overtake London’s Heathrow Airport.
The new runway will be the sixth at Istanbul Airport
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, announced yesterday that the fourth main runway at Istanbul Airport will come into service on 18 September at a ceremony to be attended by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In a written statement reported by the Anatolia news agency, Uraloğlu noted that the airport currently offers connections to more than 340 destinations worldwide and is served by more than 110 airlines.
Uraloğlu explained that the airport currently operates with a total of five runways — three main runways and two reserve runways — all oriented north-south. “We will open Istanbul Airport’s fourth main runway on 18 September in the presence of our President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. With the opening of our fourth main runway, we will increase the total number of runways to six. Our new runway will also be the first runway at Istanbul Airport oriented east-west. The new concrete runway, built along an east-west axis, is 2,820 metres long and 45 metres wide,” he said.
Shorter taxiing and flight times and greater safety
Uraloğlu also highlighted the new infrastructure’s contribution to air operations: “We will reduce taxiing and flight times, particularly on domestic flights and on routes to the east. This will enable us to save fuel and time. The new runway will also contribute to more efficient operations in a range of weather conditions. With our new east-west runway, we will increase operational flexibility even in adverse weather conditions. We will also maximise safety margins during landings and take-offs and improve on-time take-off rates.”
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure also pointed out that, in April 2025, Istanbul Airport had already implemented the Triple Independent Parallel Runway Operation, a pioneering system in Europe that allows for simultaneous take-offs and landings on three parallel runways without them interfering with one another. Uraloğlu emphasised in this regard that the entry into service of the fourth main runway will further strengthen the operational capacity, efficiency and flexibility of what is Europe’s largest airport.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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