World's Largest Airport Opening In Turkey, Capacity To Be Twice Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson’s

On Monday, Turkey is scheduled to open the “World’s Largest Airport” in Istanbul, dethroning Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, which had carried that title till now.

The inauguration ceremony of the airport, which was located on the shores of the Black Sea, will be carried out on the 95th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

The big occasion will be broadcast live at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EDT) and will be attended by dignitaries from 18 countries, including the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Iran, Macedonia, Moldova, Pakistan, Serbia, Sudan, Slovenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and the United Kingdom, Turkish Newspaper Yeni Şafak reported.

The airport was built by five contractors — Limak, Kolin, Cengiz, Mapa and Kalyon — and was expected to generate an estimated annual revenue of 26 billion euros ($30.65 billion) for the Turkish government.

“This airport is going to be the most important hub between Asia and Europe,” Kadri Samsunlu, head of the five-company consortium Istanbul Grand Airport, told reporters Thursday, the Independent reported.

Monday’s inauguration of the 76 million square meters (818 square feet) establishment will be a symbolic opening of the airport, with only a limited number of airplanes operating from there.

Only the first phase of the airport has been completed so far, which will be partially operational till the end of the year, at which point, it will be fully functional. As 2018 draws to a close, the airport was expected to begin serving around 90 million passengers annually.

In addition, around 2,000 planes, operated by over 250 carriers, will go through the airport on a daily basis to over 350 destinations.

Once the remaining phases of the airport are completed by 2023, it will boast of six separate runways with a capacity of 500 aircraft. The massive establishment will be able to cater to around 200 million passengers annually and accommodate nearly 70,000 cars in its open and closed parking spaces.

The Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, which had been touted as the world’s biggest and busiest airport till date, is used to serving over 100 million passengers yearly, which is half of the capacity that Istanbul’s airport would eventually be able to serve after ten years.

Istanbul’s new airport will also have a 53,000 square meter-long shopping complex — the world’s largest duty-free shopping center — which will consist of various sections, including luxury stores and bazaar-like marts.

The first plane to takeoff from the airport will be a domestic flight to Turkey’s capital Ankara on Oct. 31. The next day, the first international flight will fly out from the airport to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Some of the other famously large airports of the world are Beijing Capital International Airport (the largest and busiest airport in Asia), Dubai International Airport, Tokyo International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, Wander Wisdom reported.