Atatürk International Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Atatürk International Airport
nativename = Atatürk Uluslararası Havalimanı
nativename-a =
nativename-r =

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image-width =
caption =
IATA = IST
ICAO = LTBA
type = Public
owner = General Directorate of State Airports
operator = TAV Airport Management
city-served = Istanbul, Turkey
location = Yeşilköy
elevation-f = 163
elevation-m = 50
coordinates = Coord|40|58|34|N|028|48|51|E|type:airport
website = [http://www.ataturkairport.com/eng/ http://www.ataturkairport.com]
metric-rwy = Yes
r1-number = 18L/36R
r1-length-f = 9,843
r1-length-m = 3,000
r1-surface = Concrete
r2-number = 18R/36L
r2-length-f = 9,843
r2-length-m = 3,000
r2-surface = Concrete
r3-number = 06/24
r3-length-f = 7,546
r3-length-m = 2,300
r3-surface = Concrete
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes = Sources: Turkish Aeronautical Information Publication [ [http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadcms/eadsite/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=25&Itemid=3.html AIP] from the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation]

Atatürk International Airport (formerly "Yeşilköy International Airport") Airport codes|IST|LTBA ( _tr. Atatürk Uluslararası Havalimanı) is the major international airport in Istanbul, Turkey. Located in Yeşilköy, on the European side of the city, it is 15 km (9 mi) southwest of the city centre. The airport is named in honor of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and the first president of the Republic of Turkey. With estimated passenger traffic of 26 million for the year 2008, it is projected to be among the top 40 airports in the world in terms of total passenger traffic.

Terminals

There are three terminals, one international (Terminal A), one domestic (Terminal B) and one cargo terminal (Terminal C). Inaugurated in 2001, the international terminal is an efficient and modern terminal. After the new terminal opened, domestic flights have been moved to the old international terminal. Despite its 70's design, this new domestic terminal can handle more passengers than the more modern but smaller previous domestic terminal. Additionally, Terminal C was the so called "Hajj Terminal", dedicated only to flights to Mecca during the Hajj season to avoid overload in Terminal A. Because the new international terminal can handle more passengers now, these pilgrimage flights are moved to Terminal A, and Terminal C has been converted to a cargo terminal.

The airport terminals have been operated by TAV (Tepe-Akfen-Ventures) since January 2000. TAV has invested US$600 million since 1998. In 2005 TAV won the concession agreement to operate Atatürk for 15.5 years at a record breaking amount of $3 billion, which also represents the highest figure for such a privatization project in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Commonwealth of Independent States and North Africa.

Traffic

Atatürk Airport still faces capacity issues; it ranks somewhere between thirty-fifth and fortieth in the world by both cargo and passenger traffic handling over 730,000 tonnes of load (cargo+freight+mail) and over 25 million passengers in the year 2007. Given that the total passenger traffic doubled in five years (domestic traffic almost quadrupled!) in parallel with the booming Turkish economy and tourism, the city needs another airport in the metropolitan area in the next 3-5 years. Its rated capacity of 14 million international passengers per year and 10 million domestic passengers per year was barely sufficient for the demand in 2007. The Istanbul greater metropolitan area is expected to have a demand of 25 million international passengers and 25 million domestic passengers annually by the year 2015. However, introduction of high speed trains between Ankara and Istanbul in 2008, and completion of the construction of the intercity highways linking Istanbul to other cities (to Bursa, İzmir, Antalya and the Black Sea Speedway) may help decrease this demand.

Atatürk shares traffic with Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, which is on the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul, which had annual passenger traffic of just 3.7 million in 2007. The two airports both provide domestic and international service to the Istanbul area, but booming passenger demands (as well as the physical impossibility of expanding Atatürk Airport) suggest that a 4th airport will be required by 2007, as the Hezarfen Airport is not big enough to support international flights. This new airport is planned to be located north of Istanbul in Kemerburgaz which is close to the Levent business district.

Below is the passenger data for Istanbul for the years 2002-2007: [ [http://www.dhmi.gov.tr/dosyalar/istatistikler.asp İstatistikler] ]

tatistics

(The 'total' column below exclude the number of transit passengers. For the year 2007, 2,706,614 transit passengers used Turkish airports, and about 70% of this number is through Istanbul Atatürk Airport. Therefore, additional 1,894,600 transit passengers can be added to IST's total passenger traffic.) [http://www.dhmi.gov.tr/dhmistatistik/istatistik.aspx]

.
(*) Preliminary data(**) Estimate based on total transit volume of Turkish airports.

More statistics

*IST was ranked 30th among the world airports by International Freight Traffic in April 2007, by the Airports Council International.

ervices

Free Wireless LAN is available at the international arrival area (after customs control) and in the international departure area (after passport control).There is an airport hotel, [http://www.airporthotelistanbul.com/DefaultEng.aspx] , connected to the terminal. Also, in 5 miles radius of the hotel, there is Radisson SAS, Marriott Renaissance, Holiday Inn Airport North, Four Points and Sheraton.

In the airport, there are two Starbucks outlets (one in arrivals and the other in the departure lounge after the passport control, near gate 218) and Gloria Jean's coffee shops among others, both in arrival and departure. At the departure, coffee shops are beyond passport control. There are three Burger King outlets. There is a unisex barber shop, on the mezzanine level of the departure concourse, before passport control.Pharmacy and Post office are located on the arrival level.There is a storage area at the arrivals level.All major car rental agencies are present at the arrivals. Hertz offers Gold Service.There are book shops and newspaper stands at the departure before and after passport control. International newspapers are available at those before and after passport control; English books are found at those after passport control.Istanbul's famous Gulluoglu baklava [http://www.gulluoglu.biz/] is available at several outlets on the departures concourse after passport control.

Access

There are several ways to travel between Atatürk International Airport and the city center.

* Light Rail Service : Light rail service exists between Aksaray and Atatürk International Airport. The line goes through some major parts of the European side of the city; including the intercity bus terminal. The LRT takes the passengers to Aksaray in 30-35 minutes. [ [http://www.istanbul-ulasim.com.tr/default.asp?menu_id=5&sayfa_id=4 Hafif raylı sistem] ] The approximate cost is 0.75 euros one-way.
* Airport Shuttle Service : The shuttle services are operated by Havaş, which is one of the major ground handling companies within Turkey. The busses run half-hourly to Bakırköy, Yenikapı, Aksaray, Taksim Square, hourly to Kozyatağı (on the Anatolian side), two-hourly to Etiler-Akmerkez. Also, there is a fast ferry terminal in Bakırköy which connects the terminal to Bostancı and Kadıköy. Havaş buses run between the airport and the fast ferry terminal according to the departures and arrivals of the ferries. [ [http://www.havas.com.tr Havaş] ]
* Municipality Bus : Municipality buses also run to Taksim, Etiler and Kozyatağı. This is a slower but much cheaper alternative than Havaş. [ [http://www.iett.gov.tr/en/index.php İETT] ]
* Car : The airport is accessible through the coastal road, D-100 international road and TEM (Trans-European Motorway).

Incidents and accidents

* 2006 fire: At about 3:30 p.m. (local summer time, GMT+3) on May 24, 2006, a fire broke out in the cargo terminal (Terminal C) building, about 1 km away from the international and domestic terminal buildings, billowing clouds of black smoke and forcing the suspension of some air traffic. Local officials have reportedly attributed the fire to sparks from a soldering iron. Three people were treated for smoke inhalation. The fire was under control after 90 minutes of work by firemen and accompanying two Bombardier CL-215 fire-fighting planes which were hired two days previously by the Metropolitan Municipality. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5012706.stm BBC News] ]
*On 23 March 2007 an Ariana Afghan Airlines Airbus A300B4 (YA-BAD) after a flight from Kabul via Ankara, landed at Atatürk International Airport, overran the runway and came to a halt resting on its right wing. The weather at the time was poor with rain and gusting winds. As of 2007 the aircraft was being dismantled. [cite news | title= Ariana A300 overruns while landing at Istanbul Ataturk | work= Flight International | page= 10 | date= 2007-04-03]
*On 11 October 2007 a charter flight by Egypt's AMC Airlines, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 (SU-BOY), made an emergency belly landing at the Atatürk International Airport while on route from Hurghada International Airport to Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, overshooting the runway. There were no fatalities; there was one injury, and the plane was badly damaged. [ [http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL11366651.html "Plane catches fire during landing in Istanbul"] , "Reuters", 11 October 2007. Link accessed 2007-10-11.]

Airlines and destinations

cheduled Airlines

The following airlines have scheduled operations to and from Atatürk International Airport:
*Adria Airways (Ljubljana)
*Aeroflot (Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
*Aeroflot-Don (Rostov, Sochi, Moscow-Sheremetyevo)
*Aerosvit Airlines (Kiev-Boryspil)
*Air Algérie (Algiers)
*Air Astana (Almaty, Astana, Atyrau)
*Air Comet (Madrid)
*Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Air Malta (Malta)
*Air Moldova (Chişinău)
*airBaltic (Riga)
*airberlin (Düsseldorf)
*Albanian Airlines (Tirana)
*Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino)
*Ariana Afghan Airlines (Kabul)
*Armavia (Yerevan)
*Asiana Airlines (Seoul-Incheon) [begins 2009]
*Atlasjet (Adıyaman, Ankara, Antalya, Çanakkale, Dalaman, Edremit, Erbil, Ercan, Erzincan, Isparta, İzmir, Kahramanmaraş, Kars, Kavala, London-Stansted, Malatya, Manchester, Mykonos, Niš, Prishtina, Şanlıurfa, Siirt, Sivas, Tehran, Tokat, Trabzon, Uşak, Van, Yerevan)
*Austrian Airlines (Vienna)
*Azerbaijan Airlines (Baku)
*Azmar Airlines (Sulaimaniyah)
*Belavia (Minsk)
*B&H Airlines (Sarajevo, Mostar)
*Blue Wings (Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Nürnberg, Stuttgart)
*bmi (London-Heathrow)
*British Airways (London-Heathrow)
*Bulgaria Air (Sofia)
*Buraq Air (Tripoli)
*Cyprus Turkish Airlines (Ercan, Frankfurt)
*Czech Airlines (Prague)
*Delta Air Lines (New York-JFK)
*Donbassaero (Donetsk, Odessa)
*Dniproavia (Dnepropetrovsk)
*Eastok Avia (Sulaimaniyah)
*EgyptAir (Cairo)
*Emirates Airline (Dubai)
*Finnair (Helsinki) [begins 4 March, 2009]
*First Choice Airways (Manchester)
*FlyLal (Vilnius)
*Free Bird Airlines
*Germania (Berlin-Tegel)
*Gulf Air (Bahrain)
*Iberia (Barcelona, Madrid)
*Iran Air (Tabriz, Tehran-Imam Khomeini)
*Jat Airways (Belgrade)
*Kam Air (Kabul)
*Kish Air (Tehran-Imam Khomeini)
*KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
*Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
*Kuban Airlines (Krasnodar)
*Libyan Airlines (Benghazi, Tripoli)
*LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw)
*Lufthansa (Berlin-Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Frankfurt, Munich)
*Mahan Air (Tehran-Imam Khomeini)
*Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur)
*Malév Hungarian Airlines (Budapest)
*MAT Macedonian Airlines (Skopje)
*Middle East Airlines (Beirut)
*Motor Sich Airlines (Zaporizhzhia)
*Olympic Airlines (Athens, Thessaloniki)
*Onur Air (Adana, Amsterdam, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Diyarbakır, Düsseldorf, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İzmir, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Mardin, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Samsun, Tehran-Imam Khomeini, Trabzon, Zurich)
*Pegasus Airlines (Cologne/Bonn)
**Pegasus Airlines operated by Izair (Izmir)
*Pakistan International Airlines (Amsterdam, Islamabad)
*Polet Airlines (Voronezh)
*Red Wings Airlines (Moscow-Vnukovo)
*Rossiya (St. Petersburg)
*Royal Air Maroc (Casablanca)
*Royal Jordanian (Amman)
*Qatar Airways (Doha)
*S7 Airlines (Sochi)
*Saudi Arabian Airlines (Riyadh, Jeddah, Madinah)
*Scandinavian Airlines System (Stockholm-Arlanda)
*Singapore Airlines (Dubai, Singapore)
*Somon Air (Dushanbe)
*Swiss International Air Lines (Geneva, Zürich)
*Syrian Arab Airlines (Aleppo, Damascus)
*Taban Airlines (Tehran-Imam Khomeini, Mashad)
*Tajik Air (Dushanbe)
*TAROM (Bucharest-Otopeni)
*Tatarstan Airlines (Kazan)
*Tavrey Airlines (Odessa, Simferopol)
*Thomas Cook Airlines (Brussels)
*Tunisair (Tunis)
*Turkish Airlines (Abu Dhabi, Abuja, Adana, Addis Ababa, Adıyaman, Agri, Algiers, Almaty, Amman, Amsterdam, Ankara, Antalya, Ashgabat, Astana, Athens, Bahrain, Baku, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Batumi, Beijing, Beirut, Belgrade, Berlin-Tegel, Berlin-Schoenefeld, Birmingham [begins 15 December] , Bishkek, Bodrum, Brussels, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Cairo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Chicago-O'Hare, Chişinău, Cologne/Bonn, Copenhagen, Dakar [begins September 2008] , Dalaman, Damascus, Delhi, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Dnepropetrovsk, Doha, Donetsk, Dubai, Dublin, Dushanbe, Düsseldorf, Ekaterinburg, Elazığ, Ercan, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Frankfurt, Gaziantep, Geneva, Hamburg, Hanover, Hatay, Helsinki, Hong Kong, İzmir, Jeddah, Johannesburg, Kahramanmaraş, Karachi, Kars, Kayseri, Kazan, Khartoum, Kiev-Boryspil, Konya, Kuwait City, Lagos, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London-Heathrow, London-Stansted, Lyon, Madinah, Madrid, Malatya, Manchester, Mardin, Mashhad [begins autumn 2008] , Merzifon, Milan-Malpensa, Minsk, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Mumbai, Munich, Mus, Muscat, Nevşehir, New York-JFK, Nice, Nuremberg, Odessa, Oran [begins autumn 2008] [http://www.thy.com/en-INT/corporate/skylife/article.aspx?mkl=703 New international destinations on Turkish Airlines] ] , Osaka-Kansai, Oslo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Prishtina, Riga, Riyadh, Rome-Fiumicino, Rostov, Samara [begins autumn 2008] , Samsun, Sanaa, Şanlıurfa, São Paulo-Guarulhos [begins September 2008] , Sarajevo, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Shiraz [begins autumn 2008] , Simferopol, Singapore, Sinop, Sivas, Skopje, Sofia, Stockholm-Arlanda, St. Petersburg, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Tabriz, Tashkent, Tbilisi, Tehran-Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson [begins late 2008] , Trabzon, Tripoli, Tunis, Ufa [begins autumn 2008] , Van, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington-Dulles , Zagreb, Zürich)
*Turkmenistan Airlines (Ashgabat)
*UM Airlines (Ivano-Frankiv, Kiev-Boryspil, Kharkov, Chernovtsi)
*Uzbekistan Airways (Tashkent)
*Volga-Aviaexpress (Nalchik)
*XL Airways Germany (Frankfurt)
*yemenia (sanaa)

Charter Airlines

Aside from the ones above, the following airlines also operate out of Atatürk International Airport:
*Bestair (Brussels, London, Paris, Zurich)
*Blue Wings (Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Cologne/Bonn, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart)
*Inter Airlines (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Izmir, Kayseri, Konya)
*Kuzu Airlines Cargo (Amsterdam, Dubai, Kuwait, London-Gatwick)
*Saga Airlines (Manchester)
*Tarhan Tower Airlines (Adana, Amsterdam, Ankara, Antalya, Bari, Brussels, Erbil, İzmir, Kayseri, Milan-Malpensa, Naples, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Stuttgart, Tehran-Mehrabad, Yerevan)
*Jupiter Airlines (Baghdad)

Trivia

Appeared under the former name of Yeşilköy Airport in the film From Russia with Love.

References

External links

* [http://www.ataturkairport.com/eng/ Atatürk International Airport Official Homepage]
* [http://www.istanbul-ist.airports-guides.com Information about Atatürk International Airport]
*WAD|LTBA