The Government of Turkey is set to open its third and mega airport project in Istanbul in April. The Turkish authority will conduct the relocation of operations and equipment from Atatürk International Airport (IST) on April 5 to 12 midnight on April 7.

Turkish Airlines, the concessionaire that won the development and management of the airport for 25 years will facilitate the transfer of about 47,300 tons of equipment from IST to the new airport. The transfer will also involve 1,800 staffs. Atatürk Airport and Istanbul Airport will be close for all scheduled passenger flights between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. on April 6. The authorities have advised the passengers to check with the airline for the details of their flights. After the transfer process, the airports’ IATA codes will migrate and Atatürk Airport’s IST code will transfer to the new Istanbul Airport. Atatürk Airport, which will remain open for cargo and VIP passenger flights, will adopt the ISL code.

The new mega airport aims to address the deficiency of carrying capacity. It is estimated to accommodate up to 90 million passengers annually and expand to six runways and 16 taxiways in four phases to allow for 200 million passengers. Once fully developed, the new airport will be the world's largest airport  in terms of land area.