Atatürk Airport (IATA: ISL, IST, ICAO: LTBA) is an airport currently in use for private jets. It used to be the primary international airport of Istanbul and the hub of Turkish Airlines until it was closed to commercial passenger flights on 6 April 2019. From that point, all passenger flights were transferred to the new Istanbul Airport.

History

Growth and development

In 1911, a small apron with two hangars was built in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, for the Ottoman Armed Forces. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded Türk Tayyare Cemiyeti (Turkish Aircraft Company, today Türk Hava Kurumu - THK) in 1925. In 1933, today's Turkish Airlines, the Türkiye Devlet Hava Yolları started its flights with two Curtiss Kingbird aircraft. Flights from Istanbul to Ankara and Athens began. The small apron was expanded and a new passenger terminal was built. This is considered the beginning of the airport's 86-year history. It was originally named Yeşilköy Airport. In the 1980s, it was renamed Atatürk International Airport.

It served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 10th-busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. In 2017, it was Europe's 5th-busiest airport after London–Heathrow, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt Airport, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, having fallen from third place after a decline in passengers due to security fears.

Closure

Istanbul Atatürk Airport was replaced in regards to commercial passenger functions by the newly constructed Istanbul Airport, in April 2019, in order to meet Istanbul's growing domestic and international air traffic demand as a source, destination, and transit point. Both airports were used in parallel for five months from late 2018, with the new airport gradually expanding to serve more domestic and regional destinations. On 6 April 2019, Atatürk's IST IATA airport code was inherited by Istanbul Airport and Atatürk Airport was assigned the code ISL after the full transfer of all scheduled passenger activities to the new airport was completed. The final commercial flight, Turkish Airlines Flight 54, left Atatürk Airport on 6 April 2019 at 2:44am for Singapore.

On 5 February 2022, Turkish Cargo relocated all cargo flights and operations from their former hub at the airport to the new Istanbul Airport.

Atatürk Airport National Garden

Turkey's government announced its plans to construct a giant park on the grounds of the former Istanbul Atatürk Airport (whose operations are transferred to the new Istanbul Airport) in 2019. The park is part of a larger urban transformation plan that seeks to correct some of the haphazard urban planning that characterised most major Turkish cities since the 1970s. Due to the little space available to construct or expand green spaces, new parks are often constructed on spots formerly occupied by factories or other major facilities.

The Atatürk Airport National Garden will be constructed on and around one of the two runways of Atatürk Airport. These runways were already rendered unusable after they were chosen as the site for Istanbul's pandemic hospital in early 2020. More than 132,500 trees are to be planted in place of the asphalt runway and taxiways that will also help to keep the city cooler. The other runway is set to remain in use for select cargo and private jet flights, aviation fairs (such as Teknofest) and for use by the Turkish Air Force (which still maintains a small training base and museum here).

The leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called the proposed construction of the park ''treason'' and threatened to hold those responsible to account.

Facilities

Former passenger terminals

Istanbul Atatürk Airport featured two passenger terminals linked to each other. The former domestic terminal is the older and smaller of the two terminals and exclusively handled domestic flights within Turkey. It featured its own check-in and airside facilities on the upper floor, with twelve departure gates equipped with jet bridges and five baggage claim belts on the ground level. The former international terminal was inaugurated in 2000 and used for all international flights. It featured a large main hall containing 8 check-in aisles and a wide range of airside facilities such as shops and restaurants, 34 gates equipped with jet bridges, and 7 bus-boarding stands. The arrivals floor had 11 baggage claim belts. In addition, there is a general aviation terminal to the northwest of the passenger terminals.

Former cargo terminal

The airport featured a dedicated cargo terminal including facilities for the handling of radioactive and refrigerated freight.

Other facilities

• Turkish Airlines has its headquarters in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building, located within the airport campus.
• Prima Aviation Services Inc. has its MRO facilities in new technical site at the air side Gate A.
• In May 2020, the Yeşilköy Prof. Dr. Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital using the former site of the 35L/35R runways were opened in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.

Current operations

As of April 2019, all passenger operations have been relocated to the new Istanbul Airport. As of February 2022, all cargo operations have been relocated to the new airport as well. Currently, the airport serves only private and business jets as well as operations on behalf of the Government of Turkey.

Statistics

Istanbul Atatürk Airport ranked 17th in ACI statistics at the end of 2011 in terms of international traffic with almost 24 million international passengers. It ranked 29th in the world in terms of total passenger traffic with over 37.4 million passengers in 2011. Its total traffic within the last decade more than tripled, and its international traffic quadrupled. Passenger statistics for Istanbul Atatürk Airport for the years 2002–2019 are below.

Passenger statistics at Istanbul Atatürk Airport

Year	Domestic passengers	Passenger % change	International passenger	Passenger % change	Total passenger	Passenger % change	World rank international	World rank total
2019	4,236,203		11,876,601		16,112,804
2018	19,170,141	2	48,811,305	10	67,981,446	6	10th	17th
2017	19,450,347	2	44,277,101	7	63,727,448	5	11th	15th
2016	19,099,874	1	41,019,341	2	60,119,215	2	11th	14th
2015	19,375,402	4	41,947,327	10	61,322,729	8	10th	11th
2014	18,754,002	9	38,200,788	12	56,954,790	11	9th	13th
2013	17,224,105	13	34,096,770	14	51,320,875	14	10th	18th
2012	15,281,321	14	29,717,196	24	44,998,508	20	13th	21st
2011	13,604,352	15	23,847,835	17	37,452,187	17	17th	28th
2010	11,800,999	3	20,344,620	11	32,145,619	8	19th	37th
2009	11,393,645	1	18,363,739	8	29,757,384	4
2008	11,484,063	20	17,069,069	26	28,553,132	23
2007	9,595,923	6	13,600,306	12	23,196,229	9
2006	9,091,693	21	12,174,281	3	21,265,974	10
2005	7,512,282	39	11,781,487	16	19,293,769	24
2004	5,430,925	70	10,169,676	14	15,600,601	29
2003	3,196,045	12	8,908,268	5	12,104,342	7
2002	2,851,487		8,506,204		11,357,691

Annual aircraft operations

Year	Aircraft operations
2010	288,246
2011	325,209
2012	364,322
2013	406,317
2014	439,532
2015	464,774
2016	466,396
2017	460,785
2018	464,646
2019	138,279
2020	37,468
2021	41,032
2022	28,272
2023	25,205

Accidents and incidents

• On 30 January 1975, Turkish Airlines Flight 345, crashed into the Sea of Marmara during its final approach to the airport. All 42 passengers and crew on board were killed.
• On 25 April 2015, Turkish Airlines Flight 1878, operated by an A320-200, TC-JPE was severely damaged in a landing accident. The aircraft aborted the first hard landing, which inflicted engine and gear damage. On the second attempt at landing, the right gear collapsed and the aircraft rolled off the runway spinning 180 degrees. All on board evacuated without injury.
• On 28 June 2016, three terrorists killed 44 civilians by gunfire and subsequent suicide bombings, along with 239 civilians injured. The three men arrived in a taxi cab and opened fire at the terminal. The three men then blew themselves up when police opened fire. The airport has X-ray scanners at the entrance to the terminal but security checks for cars are limited.
• On 15 July 2016, the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt took place. During the attempted coup, units of the Turkish Armed Forces seized control of the airport and closed it, but it was reopened after pro-government forces regained control.

Accolades

• The Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers lists İstanbul Atatürk Airport as one of the fifty civil engineering feats in Turkey, a list of remarkable engineering projects completed in the first 50 years of the chamber's existence.
• In the 2013 Air Transport News awards ceremony, İstanbul Atatürk Airport was named Airport of the Year.
• The airport was named Europe's Best Airport in the 40-50 million passenger per year category at the 2013 Skytrax World Airport Awards.

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Turkey
• List of the busiest airports in Europe
• List of the busiest airports in Europe (2010–2015)