Atatürk Airport

Atatürk Airport (IATA: ISL, ICAO: LTBA) (former IATA code: IST) (Turkish: Atatürk Havalimanı) was the primary international airport of Istanbul until it was closed to commercial passenger flights on 6 April 2019. From that point, all flights were transferred to the new Istanbul Airport.[4][5] All freight operations subsequently relocated as well by 5 February 2022[6] after which the airport continued to serve general aviation until its final closure. It is now only in use for private jets and used to be the hub of Turkish Airlines.

Atatürk Airport

Atatürk Havalimanı
Summary
Airport typeDefunct
OwnerGeneral Directorate of State Airports (DHMİ)
OperatorTAV Airports
ServesIstanbul, Turkey
LocationYeşilköy, Bakırköy, Istanbul
Opened1953 (1953) (as airport)[1]
Closed5 February 2022 (2022-02-05) (cargo)
Passenger services ceased6 April 2019 (2019-04-06)
Built1912 (1912) (as airfield)
Elevation AMSL163 ft / 50 m
Coordinates40°58′34″N 028°48′51″E
Websiteataturkairport.com (archived on 8 February 2020)
Map
ISL is located in Istanbul
ISL
ISL
Location within Istanbul
ISL is located in Turkey
ISL
ISL
ISL (Turkey)
ISL is located in Europe
ISL
ISL
ISL (Europe)
ISL is located in North Atlantic
ISL
ISL
ISL (North Atlantic)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 2,580 8,465 Grooved asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Total passengers16,112,804[2]
International passengers11,876,601
Source: Turkish AIP at Eurocontrol Turkey[3]

History
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkey and the airport's namesake.

Growth and development

In 1911, a small apron with two hangars was built in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, for the Ottoman Armed Forces.[7] Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded Türk Tayyare Cemiyeti (Turkish Aircraft Company, today Türk Hava Kurumu - THK) in 1925. In 1933, today's Turkish Airlines, the Türkiye Devlet Hava Yolları started its flights with two Curtiss Kingbird aircraft. Flights from Istanbul to Ankara and Athens began. The small apron was expanded and a new passenger terminal was built. This is considered the beginning of the airport's 86-year history. It was originally named Yeşilköy Airport. In the 1980s, it was renamed Atatürk International Airport.

It served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 10th-busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. In 2017, it was Europe's 5th-busiest airport after London–Heathrow, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt Airport, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, having fallen from third place after a decline in passengers due to security fears.[8]

Closure

Istanbul Atatürk Airport was replaced in regards to commercial passenger functions by the newly constructed Istanbul Airport, in April 2019, in order to meet Istanbul's growing domestic and international air traffic demand as a source, destination, and transit point. Both airports were used in parallel for five months from late 2018, with the new airport gradually expanding to serve more domestic and regional destinations.[9] On 6 April 2019, Atatürk's IST IATA airport code was inherited by Istanbul Airport and Atatürk Airport was assigned the code ISL after the full transfer of all scheduled passenger activities to the new airport was completed.[10] The final commercial flight, Turkish Airlines Flight 54, left Atatürk Airport on 6 April 2019 at 2:44am for Singapore.[11]

On 5 February 2022, Turkish Cargo relocated all cargo flights and operations from their former hub at the airport to the new Istanbul Airport.[12][13]

Atatürk Airport National Garden

Turkey's government announced its plans to construct a giant park on the grounds of the former Istanbul Atatürk Airport (whose operations are transferred to the new Istanbul Airport) in 2019.[14] The park is part of a larger urban transformation plan that seeks to correct some of the haphazard urban planning that characterised most major Turkish cities since the 1970s.[15] Due to the little space available to construct or expand green spaces, new parks are often constructed on spots formerly occupied by factories or other major facilities.[14]

The Atatürk Airport National Garden will be constructed on and around one of the two runways of Atatürk Airport.[16] This runway was already rendered unusable after it was chosen as the site for Istanbul's pandemic hospital in early 2020.[17] More than 132.500 trees are to be planted in place of the asphalt runway and taxiways that will also help to keep the city cooler.[14] The other runway is set to remain in use for select cargo and private jet flights, aviation fairs (such as Teknofest) and for use with the air force (which still maintains a small training base and museum here).[15]

The leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called the proposed construction of the park ''treason'' and threatened to hold those responsible to account.[18] The CHP opposes the project on the grounds that it's still a working airport, despite the fact that one runway and dedicated cargo tarmac will remain open and that Kılıçdaroğlu previously announced his own plans to build a park at the airport.[16]

Facilities
The original terminal at Yeşilköy in 1970.
The former main terminal inaugurated in 1983, which then served as the domestic section until 2019.
The now defunct main passenger terminal in 2013.

Former passenger terminals

Istanbul Atatürk Airport featured two passenger terminals linked to each other.[19] The former domestic terminal is the older and smaller of the two terminals and exclusively handled domestic flights within Turkey. It featured its own check-in and airside facilities on the upper floor, with twelve departure gates equipped with jet bridges[19] and five baggage claim belts on the ground level.[19] The former international terminal was inaugurated in 2000 and used for all international flights. It featured a large main hall containing 8 check-in aisles and a wide range of airside facilities such as shops and restaurants, 34 gates equipped with jet bridges, and 7 bus-boarding stands. The arrivals floor had 11 baggage claim belts.[19] In addition, there is a general aviation terminal to the northwest of the passenger terminals.[20]

Former cargo terminal

The airport featured a dedicated cargo terminal including facilities for the handling of radioactive and refrigerated freight.[21]

Other facilities

Former airlines and destinations

As of April 2019, all passenger operations have been relocated to the new Istanbul Airport. As of February 2022, all cargo operations have been relocated to the new airport as well.[6] Currently, the airport serves only private and business jets[25] as well as operations on behalf of the Government of Turkey.

Statistics

Istanbul Atatürk Airport ranked 17th in ACI statistics at the end of 2011 in terms of international traffic with almost 24 million international passengers. It ranked 29th in the world in terms of total passenger traffic with over 37.4 million passengers in 2011. Its total traffic within the last decade more than tripled, and its international traffic quadrupled.[26][27] Passenger statistics for Istanbul Atatürk Airport for the years 2002–2019 are below.[28]

Annual passenger traffic at ISL airport. See Wikidata query.
Passenger statistics at Istanbul Atatürk Airport[28]
Year Domestic
passengers		 Passenger
% change		 International
passenger		 Passenger
% change		 Total
passenger		 Passenger
% change		 World rank
international		 World rank
total
20194,236,203Decrease11,876,601Decrease16,112,804DecreaseSteadySteady
2018[29]19,170,141Decrease248,811,305Increase1067,981,446Increase610th17th
2017[30]19,450,347Increase244,277,101Increase763,727,448Increase511th15th
201619,099,874Decrease141,019,341Decrease260,119,215Decrease211th[31]14th[32]
2015[33]19,375,402Increase441,947,327Increase1061,322,729Increase810th[34]11th[35]
201418,754,002Increase938,200,788Increase1256,954,790[36]Increase119th13th[37]
201317,224,105Increase1334,096,770Increase1451,320,875Increase1410th18th
201215,281,321Increase1429,717,196Increase2444,998,508Increase2013th[38]21st[39]
201113,604,352Increase1523,847,835Increase1737,452,187Increase1717th28th
201011,800,999Increase320,344,620Increase1132,145,619Increase819th37th
200911,393,645Decrease118,363,739Increase829,757,384Increase4SteadySteady
200811,484,063Increase2017,069,069Increase2628,553,132Increase23SteadySteady
20079,595,923Increase613,600,306Increase1223,196,229Increase9SteadySteady
20069,091,693Increase2112,174,281Increase321,265,974Increase10SteadySteady
20057,512,282Increase3911,781,487Increase1619,293,769Increase24SteadySteady
20045,430,925Increase7010,169,676Increase1415,600,601Increase29SteadySteady
20033,196,045Increase128,908,268Increase512,104,342Increase7SteadySteady
20022,851,487Steady8,506,204Steady11,357,691SteadySteadySteady

Accidents and incidents
  • On 30 January 1975, Turkish Airlines Flight 345, crashed into the Sea of Marmara during its final approach to the airport. All 42 passengers and crew on board were killed.[40]
  • On 25 April 2015, Turkish Airlines Flight 1878, operated by an A320-200, TC-JPE was severely damaged in a landing accident. The aircraft aborted the first hard landing, which inflicted engine and gear damage. On the second attempt at landing, the right gear collapsed and the aircraft rolled off the runway spinning 180 degrees. All on board evacuated without injury.[41]
  • On 28 June 2016, three terrorists killed 44 civilians by gunfire and subsequent suicide bombings, along with 239 civilians injured.[42][43] The three men arrived in a taxi cab and opened fire at the terminal. The three men then blew themselves up when police opened fire. The airport has X-ray scanners at the entrance to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited.[42][44]
  • On 15 July 2016, the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt took place. During the attempted coup, units of the Turkish Armed Forces seized control of the airport and closed it, but it was reopened after pro-government forces regained control.[45][46][47]

Accolades
  • The Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists İstanbul Atatürk Airport as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects completed in the first 50 years of the chamber's existence.[48]
  • In the 2013 Air Transport News awards ceremony, İstanbul Atatürk Airport was named Airport of the Year.[49]
  • The airport was named Europe's Best Airport in the 40-50 million passenger per year category at the 2013 Skytrax World Airport Awards.[50]

See Also

References
  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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