Istanbul new airport - latest pictures and discussion thread

TK787 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 8:45 am

Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 11:02 am

TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

What was the full capacity of old airport?

TK787 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:59 pm

Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

What was the full capacity of old airport?

IIRC, Ataturk handled around 1500 flights and over 230,000 pax a day (including transfer pax) at its peak days. Again, that is only for a special day, like holiday and such.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:52 pm

TK787 wrote:
Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

What was the full capacity of old airport?

IIRC, Ataturk handled around 1500 flights and over 230,000 pax a day (including transfer pax) at its peak days. Again, that is only for a special day, like holiday and such.

Understand the point. Can we compare rate before move (before they cancelled flights to reduce load) , for example end of March with current rate?

pune · Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:29 pm

peterinlisbon wrote:
Here's the new airport on the first day of operations (06 April):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf6TzCJ96Pk

And here's Ataturk airport on the last day (05 April):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEx0FcbiAJw&t=7s

Could somebody share what the lady was talking about in the first video and the second video. I couldn't get any subtitles of both

Are there going to be any Airbus A380 takeoffs and landings as well in the Airport. I am guessing there would be.

musman9853 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:52 pm

what's gonna happen to ataturk? is it being demolished?

aldrigsomandre · Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:56 pm

musman9853 wrote:
what's gonna happen to ataturk? is it being demolished?

It'll become a park, supposedly. For the time being, the taxpayers are responsible for covering the loss that will be incurred by the early pre-2021 closure of it.

TK787 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:59 pm

Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Solidus wrote:

What was the full capacity of old airport?

IIRC, Ataturk handled around 1500 flights and over 230,000 pax a day (including transfer pax) at its peak days. Again, that is only for a special day, like holiday and such.

Understand the point. Can we compare rate before move (before they cancelled flights to reduce load) , for example end of March with current rate?

Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:02 pm

TK787 wrote:
Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
IIRC, Ataturk handled around 1500 flights and over 230,000 pax a day (including transfer pax) at its peak days. Again, that is only for a special day, like holiday and such.

Understand the point. Can we compare rate before move (before they cancelled flights to reduce load) , for example end of March with current rate?

Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

aldrigsomandre · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:03 pm

Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Solidus wrote:

Understand the point. Can we compare rate before move (before they cancelled flights to reduce load) , for example end of March with current rate?

Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

Which are those "not important destinations"?

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:25 pm

aldrigsomandre wrote:
Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

Which are those "not important destinations"?

Any destinations, which are not covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for claim for flight cancellation, up to 600EUR or similar in North America. For example CIS / Russia / some African countries where passengers are not well protected in case of cancellations or delays, they could easy be "sacrificed" without big consequences.

N14AZ · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:26 pm

TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

Good to know. I will fly HAN - IST -HAJ this Friday. Hope everything works fine and I am curious about the new TK-lounge.

But what a pity- it was always so nice to see these BEA A300‘s at the old airport. I will miss them.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:27 pm

I think you understand that a lot of people booked tickets, when it was not clear of movement happen on these dates. They were offered to reschedule / rebook flights.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:37 pm

aldrigsomandre wrote:
Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

Which are those "not important destinations"?

Example. TSE - 5 days no flights from 3-rd until today.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/tk354

4 days

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/kc918

You can find more examples if you will make comparison.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:40 pm

I kindly apologize to everyone who lives or related to countries I mentioned, this is pure economical wise opinion.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:44 pm

If we count one by one these destinations we get numbers close to 1000-1100 flights rate former IST had before.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 3:55 pm

aldrigsomandre wrote:
Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Average daily flights were around 1100 beginning of 2019.

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

Which are those "not important destinations"?

I tried to search for You. Translate with Google

http://www.travel.ru/news/2019/04/06/262173.html

The reduced work of the new airport will last at least several days. Among other things, significantly reduced flights of Turkish Airlines to Russia. In the Moscow direction, where the company usually makes 5 flights a day, only one flight is scheduled for April 6, 7 and 9, and on the narrow-bodied Airbus A321. April 8, two flights are scheduled, April 10, three, from April 11 - four, and from April 29 flights will again be five.

Turkish Airlines flights to St. Petersburg and Kazan were canceled from April 6 to April 8, to Sochi from April 6 to 9, to Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar from April 6 to 10, to Ufa and Voronezh from April 6 to 11 , to Samara - from 6 to 14 April, to Yekaterinburg - from 3 to 12 April. Then flights will resume as usual (most of these lines are operated daily by the company).

Rebooking tickets available for these flights for the next available days led to the fact that tickets for neighboring dates may not be available at all or they are available only in business class or at expensive economy class fares. However, passengers affected by these cancellations from both Turkish Airlines and other carriers have the opportunity to move the trip on different dates for free. In addition, you can return the ticket without fines.

Aeroflot currently expects to fly to Istanbul’s new airport as usual five times a day from April 7 (the first flight will depart from Moscow on the evening of April 6). Also, the standard frequency of flights to Istanbul is planned for April 7 by most other foreign carriers.

I think similar situation with other countries in region.I already posted one example above.

Finn350 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 4:25 pm

I suppose this is the largest ever airport relocation?

TK787 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 4:49 pm

And do not forget the 12 x 737MAXs sitting on tarmac

HeyTK · Wed Apr 10, 2019 5:32 pm

The 787 Dreamliner should enter construction any day now right?

YouGeeElWhy · Wed Apr 10, 2019 5:59 pm

https://onemileatatime.com/istanbul-airport/

All that being said, I don’t think building the world’s largest terminal was a good idea, especially without any easy way for people to get around the terminal.
...
If you’re connecting between nearby gates or are originating in Istanbul this isn’t a huge issue (since those originating in Istanbul are let out in the middle of the terminal), but if you’re connecting from one end of the terminal to the other, this is one of the most poorly designed airports I’ve ever seen.

Anyone else think this is a problem or is Lucky overacting?

aldrigsomandre · Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:05 pm

YouGeeElWhy wrote:
https://onemileatatime.com/istanbul-airport/

All that being said, I don’t think building the world’s largest terminal was a good idea, especially without any easy way for people to get around the terminal.
...
If you’re connecting between nearby gates or are originating in Istanbul this isn’t a huge issue (since those originating in Istanbul are let out in the middle of the terminal), but if you’re connecting from one end of the terminal to the other, this is one of the most poorly designed airports I’ve ever seen.
Anyone else think this is a problem or is Lucky overacting?

It took me 25 minutes to walk from the first gate to the last gate and I am a fast walker. Think of the elderly or families with children..

dozerman · Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:20 pm

Solidus wrote:
aldrigsomandre wrote:
Solidus wrote:

Then 895 it is very nice rate considering the fact that some not important destinations were cut or reduced frequency for transition period.

Which are those "not important destinations"?

Any destinations, which are not covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for claim for flight cancellation, up to 600EUR or similar in North America. For example CIS / Russia / some African countries where passengers are not well protected in case of cancellations or delays, they could easy be "sacrificed" without big consequences.

Turkey has a copy of EU261/2004 in their laws. So those rules apply for all TK flights: http://web.shgm.gov.tr/doc4/shy-passenger.pdf
But regardless, those claims are only paid when the cancellation happens less than two weeks before departure. I imagine they cancelled the flights before that. They still have to offer free refunds or rebooking to/from another airport or another date. So I guess they kept the more profitable routes.

HeyTK · Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:21 pm

Does anyone know why the taxing takes so much time? Is it because the runway is further away from the gates or are the roads not finished yet?

LAXintl · Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:36 pm

YouGeeElWhy wrote:

Anyone else think this is a problem or is Lucky overacting?

I think he is over-reacting as he overlooks fact that TK will not operate from all 5 piers - instead of focusing on 3 primarily, and he decided to walk between two of the most distant ones. Also, the airport has/or will soon have a shuttle bus that runs on a loop between piers also that will aid with connections if you dont care to walk.

HeyTK wrote:
Does anyone know why the taxing takes so much time? Is it because the runway is further away from the gates or are the roads not finished yet?

Yes distances on the ground are much longer also. The airport property itself is over 6,000 hectares on a 7,600 hectares land area. Ataturk was barely 1,200 hectares!

Look at large airports - AMS, DEN, ORD, etc how taxi time can be quite long from the distant runway(s) to the terminal.

Dreamflight767 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:45 pm

HeyTK wrote:
Does anyone know why the taxing takes so much time? Is it because the runway is further away from the gates or are the roads not finished yet?

Funny you asked that. I was looking at Google Earth a few days ago and was shocked to see the airport layout. I know there is room for up to 6 RWYs, but for the current layout, the RWYs are on the far E side of the airport with the terminal in the SW. Not to mention, it appears that you have to cross other active RWYs to get back and forth.

Solidus · Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:04 pm

dozerman wrote:
Solidus wrote:
aldrigsomandre wrote:

Which are those "not important destinations"?

Any destinations, which are not covered by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 for claim for flight cancellation, up to 600EUR or similar in North America. For example CIS / Russia / some African countries where passengers are not well protected in case of cancellations or delays, they could easy be "sacrificed" without big consequences.

Turkey has a copy of EU261/2004 in their laws. So those rules apply for all TK flights: http://web.shgm.gov.tr/doc4/shy-passenger.pdf
But regardless, those claims are only paid when the cancellation happens less than two weeks before departure. I imagine they cancelled the flights before that. They still have to offer free refunds or rebooking to/from another airport or another date. So I guess they kept the more profitable routes.

Indeed, rebooks were offered and performed in case of TK. But I hundred percent agree they kept more profitable routes with higher load factors. I do not know how situation was handled by other airlines. Found one example:

https://airastana.com/kaz/en-us/About-U ... ew-airport

Seems to be comparing to Russian airlines, KC only asked passengers to arrive on hour earlier to airport, there were no cancellations. Unfortunately for other countries in this region it is hard to dig for info due news coverage in English language is bad.

musman9853 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:15 pm

aldrigsomandre wrote:
musman9853 wrote:
what's gonna happen to ataturk? is it being demolished?

It'll become a park, supposedly. For the time being, the taxpayers are responsible for covering the loss that will be incurred by the early pre-2021 closure of it.

thanks!

Finn350 · Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:35 pm

aldrigsomandre wrote:
YouGeeElWhy wrote:
https://onemileatatime.com/istanbul-airport/

All that being said, I don’t think building the world’s largest terminal was a good idea, especially without any easy way for people to get around the terminal.
...
If you’re connecting between nearby gates or are originating in Istanbul this isn’t a huge issue (since those originating in Istanbul are let out in the middle of the terminal), but if you’re connecting from one end of the terminal to the other, this is one of the most poorly designed airports I’ve ever seen.
Anyone else think this is a problem or is Lucky overacting?

It took me 25 minutes to walk from the first gate to the last gate and I am a fast walker. Think of the elderly or families with children..

Is it more than 2 kilometers walking from the first gate to the last gate, as a fast walker easily walks 2 kilometers in 25 minutes?

HeyTK · Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:22 am

Why is TC-JIM still at Ataturk and has not flown in over 3 weeks?

EK413 · Thu Apr 11, 2019 4:42 am

aldrigsomandre wrote:
YouGeeElWhy wrote:
https://onemileatatime.com/istanbul-airport/

All that being said, I don’t think building the world’s largest terminal was a good idea, especially without any easy way for people to get around the terminal.
...
If you’re connecting between nearby gates or are originating in Istanbul this isn’t a huge issue (since those originating in Istanbul are let out in the middle of the terminal), but if you’re connecting from one end of the terminal to the other, this is one of the most poorly designed airports I’ve ever seen.
Anyone else think this is a problem or is Lucky overacting?

It took me 25 minutes to walk from the first gate to the last gate and I am a fast walker. Think of the elderly or families with children..

Just thought I’ll share

Kinda puts it into perspective the distance between the furthest gates.

EK413

ramzi · Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:23 am

Landed at the new airport for the first time yesterday. Pretty long taxi time, around 20mins, but mostly spent waiting for other planes to taxi in front of us. Landings and take-offs didn't seem to even pause for a second while we were holding. It was strange landing in what is essentially a construction site, but the scale is truly impressive, including that of the terminal. Lots of walking indeed, and sadly the bathrooms are already dirty, although passport control was very smooth and staff were very helpful.

scbriml · Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:42 am

Dreamflight767 wrote:
HeyTK wrote:
Does anyone know why the taxing takes so much time? Is it because the runway is further away from the gates or are the roads not finished yet?

Funny you asked that. I was looking at Google Earth a few days ago and was shocked to see the airport layout. I know there is room for up to 6 RWYs, but for the current layout, the RWYs are on the far E side of the airport with the terminal in the SW. Not to mention, it appears that you have to cross other active RWYs to get back and forth.

I think your compass might need servicing! :spin:

The runways are to the West and the terminal is in the SE corner.

Dufo · Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:39 am

Any pictures of current situation at Ataturk?

mafaky · Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:39 am

Also, the airport has/or will soon have a shuttle bus that runs on a loop between piers also that will aid with connections if you don't care to walk.

That, regretfully, will be a wishful thinking. Walking/trotting is good for your health for sure and for the handicapped/elderly people there are those Golfcars around (I'm not sure if they will also charge for these cars if the really needing people use these...)

dozerman · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:07 am

Dufo wrote:
Any pictures of current situation at Ataturk?

There's this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8FjW6C49J0

gunsontheroof · Thu Apr 11, 2019 11:49 am

dozerman wrote:
Dufo wrote:
Any pictures of current situation at Ataturk?

There's this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8FjW6C49J0

Thanks for sharing! Watching traffic coming in over the Golden Horn when I was in Istanbul is one of my favorite spotting memories... certainly not short on variety.

lightsaber · Thu Apr 11, 2019 12:02 pm

What is traffic today? (How many flights?).
How is service? E.g., are connections opperating normally?

To those complaining about terminal size, it is needed. Golf carts and travelators enable connections.

What I want to know is how much the ongoing work impacted the customer experience. Are the restaurants opperating? Restrooms functioning well enough? Are all open (or at least all restaurants planned to be opened with sufficient functioning stalls).

Does baggage claim work efficiently enough? Ground travel? This is the test.

Lightsaber

Dreamflight767 · Thu Apr 11, 2019 7:43 pm

scbriml wrote:
Dreamflight767 wrote:
HeyTK wrote:
Does anyone know why the taxing takes so much time? Is it because the runway is further away from the gates or are the roads not finished yet?

Funny you asked that. I was looking at Google Earth a few days ago and was shocked to see the airport layout. I know there is room for up to 6 RWYs, but for the current layout, the RWYs are on the far E side of the airport with the terminal in the SW. Not to mention, it appears that you have to cross other active RWYs to get back and forth.

I think your compass might need servicing!

The runways are to the West and the terminal is in the SE corner.

LOL...to that you are correct. Thank you for catching that.

mxaxai · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:18 pm

LAXintl wrote:
Yes distances on the ground are much longer also. The airport property itself is over 6,000 hectares on a 7,600 hectares land area. Ataturk was barely 1,200 hectares!

Indeed! A recently published ESA satellite photo of Istanbul surprised me just how large the airport and especially the terminal are. It's easily the most distinguishable feature of the whole image. The new terminal is actually wider than the Bosporus!

https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Image ... ait_Turkey

Finn350 · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:21 pm

In the original plan, there were two parallel runways and 8 parallel taxiways, or something to that effect in the first phase. It seems that they have built two pairs of parallel runways, those in each pair very near each other, and less taxiways in the current implementation. What is the logic behind this change?

HeyTK · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:30 pm

A TK 737 (also flies the Max) Pilot made some statements regarding the move and the new airport so you guys might find it informative. Unfortunately its only in Turkish.

In a short summary he says that he felt excited about this change in his job. He explains that the move was inevitable and that the traffic at Atatürk was too chaotic, especially when he first left Pegasus and joined TK. He explains that it caused a chronic delay in 10+ minutes for all flights which not only affected the connecting passengers but also the extra fuel needed for the planes and Pilots working over hours. He also added that the current flight operations were going well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o10v37IzQQM

Solidus · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:49 pm

TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

TK787,

Do you have stats for 11.04.2019?

dozerman · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:52 pm

Finn350 wrote:
In the original plan, there were two parallel runways and 8 parallel taxiways, or something to that effect in the first phase. It seems that they have built two pairs of parallel runways, those in each pair very near each other, and less taxiways in the current implementation. What is the logic behind this change?

I think they are using two taxiways as additional/emergency runways. 17L/35R and 16R/34L are the actual runways, they are 60m wide, the other two are 45m wide. See this post: viewtopic.php?t=1379061&start=50#p20075849

Finn350 · Thu Apr 11, 2019 8:56 pm

dozerman wrote:
Finn350 wrote:
In the original plan, there were two parallel runways and 8 parallel taxiways, or something to that effect in the first phase. It seems that they have built two pairs of parallel runways, those in each pair very near each other, and less taxiways in the current implementation. What is the logic behind this change?

I think they are using two taxiways as additional/emergency runways. 17L/35R and 16R/34L are the actual runways, they are 60m wide, the other two are 45m wide. See this post: viewtopic.php?t=1379061&start=50#p20075849

Ok, the concept of emergency runways next to main runways was new to me.

TK787 · Fri Apr 12, 2019 3:35 am

Solidus wrote:
TK787 wrote:
Bilal Eksi of TK on twitter says, this Friday; TK will fly 895 flights out of IST, almost to full capacity.

TK787,

Do you have stats for 11.04.2019?

No, I was getting the numbers from twitter feed of Bilal Eksi of TK.
https://twitter.com/BilalEksiTHY

Cunard · Fri Apr 12, 2019 4:19 am

Finn350 wrote:
dozerman wrote:
Finn350 wrote:
In the original plan, there were two parallel runways and 8 parallel taxiways, or something to that effect in the first phase. It seems that they have built two pairs of parallel runways, those in each pair very near each other, and less taxiways in the current implementation. What is the logic behind this change?

I think they are using two taxiways as additional/emergency runways. 17L/35R and 16R/34L are the actual runways, they are 60m wide, the other two are 45m wide. See this post: viewtopic.php?t=1379061&start=50#p20075849

Ok, the concept of emergency runways next to main runways was new to me.

The concept isn't new as London Gatwick Airport also has an emergency runway next to the main runway that is also a pararel taxiway although they are not used simultaneously as runways.

Speedalive · Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:47 am

dozerman wrote:
Finn350 wrote:
In the original plan, there were two parallel runways and 8 parallel taxiways, or something to that effect in the first phase. It seems that they have built two pairs of parallel runways, those in each pair very near each other, and less taxiways in the current implementation. What is the logic behind this change?

I think they are using two taxiways as additional/emergency runways. 17L/35R and 16R/34L are the actual runways, they are 60m wide, the other two are 45m wide. See this post: https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtop ... #p20075849

Doesn't appear to be the case, although they are not to be used for landing unless permitted by ATC. Check out the runway operations section.

Compared to Gatwick..

AsoRock · Fri Apr 12, 2019 6:21 am

Did anyone notice the consistent 1-hour delays affecting most departing flights from the new airport ? This is according to FR24, unless the lack of proper coverage at the new airport is erroneously suggesting flight delays ? Could the long taxiing times and teething problems be causing these delays ?

THY748i · Fri Apr 12, 2019 7:38 am

AsoRock wrote:
Did anyone notice the consistent 1-hour delays affecting most departing flights from the new airport ? This is according to FR24, unless the lack of proper coverage at the new airport is erroneously suggesting flight delays ? Could the long taxiing times and teething problems be causing these delays ?

It‘s probably due to longer taxiing times as southern winds have been prevailing the last few days, so the planes must go all the way up the taxiway for takeoff (take a look on Google Maps, the terminal building is on the SE edge of the airport). On the other hand, getting to the terminal after landing will obviously be faster in this kind of situation. I don‘t know if it‘s also due to teething problems and how and how much time taxiing is supposed to take.

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