Istanbul Airport has announced the opening of its third runway.
With this, the airport becomes the first in Turkey and second in Europe to operate three independent parallel runways.
For the inauguration ceremony, three Turkish Airlines’ flights took off from Istanbul Airport simultaneously on June 14, 2020:
The third independent runway will reduce taxi time significantly. Landing time will decrease by seven minutes on average and take-off times will decrease by four minutes on average with domestic taxi times being reduced by approximately 50 per cent.
The capacity for flight movements per hour will also increase from 80 to 120 with a daily capacity of more than 2,800 flight movements.
Together with the new runway, a new end-around-taxiway will go into operation, reducing congestion, especially in times of heavy traffic.
In total, Istanbul Airport will operate five runways, three independent and two standby runways. When the entire construction is completed, the airport will have six runways and a total capacity of 200 million passengers per year.
Kadri Samsunlu, chief executive officer and general manager of IGA Airport Operation, said, “The third independent runway that will allow us to carry out simultaneous operations with our first two runways has been put into service with a historic flight. We are so proud to become the second airport in Europe capable of operating with a third independent runway.
“We are expecting an inevitable consolidation in the aviation industry. For over two months, we have been fighting the Covid-19 pandemic together with the whole world. However, at the moment we are starting to get back to normal and we are looking forward to the days that we ready to rise. Now, we have to look forward!”
