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The Beginning of Istanbul New Airport
Istanbul Airport (IGA) is the biggest airport by traffic capabilities in the world. It’s development started in early May of 2013. Tender for “Istanbul New Airport” was held in Ankara, a bid worth €22.152 billion + VAT. Later in early 2015 –“ IGA” and “Unifree DutyFree” signed the world’s biggest duty free deal for a term of 25 years. In October of 2015 “IGA” signed a loan agreement worth €4.5 billion with Ziraat Bank, Halkbank, VakıfBank, DenizBank, Garanti Bank and Finansbank to finance the first phase of Istanbul Airport. Participants at the ceremony included President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, numerous senior bureaucrats, İGA Board members, and senior managers of creditor banks.
28th of February 2018 – First runaway lit up. Having a length of 3,750 meters and a width of 60 meters, the first runway at Istanbul Airport is lit up for the first time. The first passenger ever to land on “IGA” was the president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The first commercial flight started with Istanbul-Ankara flight of Turkish Airlines. The first flight was with Boeing 777 of Turkish Airlines at 11:30.

Istanbul New Airport Location
Istanbul New Airport is one of the most modern and largest airports in the world, situated northwest of the city in the district of Arnavutköy. The airport was officially opened by the Turkish president Erdogan on 29 October 2018, the national day in Turkey. In the weekend of 6 April 2019 it replaced Istanbul Atatürk Airport as the primary passenger airport serving Istanbul.

Capacity
Today, the airport can handle 90 million passengers per year. In the future, Istanbul New Airport will be able to handle 200 million passengers per year. The national flag carrier Turkish Airlines is responsible for 80% of the total number of flights at Istanbul Airport.

Istanbul New Airport Terminals
Istanbul New Airport has one very large and modern terminal, consisting of a Departure Level (Giden yolcu katı) and an Arrival Level (Gelen yolcu katı). A second smaller terminal will be opened in 2025.

The Departures hall of Istanbul New Airport is accessible through seven entrance doors, 1 and 2 for domestic flights (İç Hatlar), 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 for international flights (Dış Hatlar). If you fly with Turkish Airlines you should take entrance 3, 4 or 5. The check-in desks of all other international carriers are the easiest to reach via doors 6 and 7.

Transportation
Car
The distance from Istanbul New Airport to the centre of Istanbul is 50 kilometres. By car, it takes 60 minutes to get to the centre of Istanbul.

Public transport
It is possible to travel to and from Istanbul New Airport by public transport. “Hava.ist” is the company that provides very cheap transportation from/to the airport itself.

Taxi transfer
A taxi is the quickest and most comfortable way to get to and from Istanbul New Airport. The price for a taxi ride from the airport to the centre of Istanbul is about TRY 200+-.

New Year is around the corner.
Istanbul municipality is not lacking this year. Whole city is filled with lights and photography spots. Most notably "Istiklal" street and "Taksim Square". Lights, trees, glowing shapes, everything is here. There are numerous events happening all throughout the city. Many big hotels are organising gala nights and events. 

There will be huge fireworks from barges and bridges on the night of 31st December. If you are visiting Istanbul in this period of time, keep on mind that it will be packed. Everywhere you go will be at least 100 000 people. Clubs will be full, hotels will be filled, taxis, buses, metros - literally everything will be filled.

Millions of people will come to Istanbul for the celebration, so make necessary reservations and plans to have a great entrance to the New Year 2020.

GLOBSFER WISHES YOU HAPPY NEW YEAR!
May God bless you all.

Havabus
At the moment of writing this text, cheapest means of transportation is “Havabus” which is a shuttle bus dedicated to transporting passengers from designated bus stations to the airport. The price of the ticket for one person is 28 TL (~3 EUR). On the official website it is written that the buses go every 30 minutes, this information is put there just for the sake of making the time schedule tight, but the buses go even faster in periods of every 15 minutes, because let’s be honest, Istanbul is packed. Minimum amount of tourists per day is 2 MILLION. Minimum.

Taxi
Another option is to take a taxi, which is a bit expensive but hustle free since they come and pick you up from your hotel’s doorstep. The only limitation with taxi is having to balance number of bags and people that a car can fit in. Taxi price varies greatly depending on the area where your hotel is located at. For example taxi ride from Taksim to Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) airport will cost you around 180 TL (~25 EUR) and around 120 (~20 EUR) TL for Istanbul New Airport (IST).

Private Transfer
The third option is to book a private transfer. The best part about private transfer is in many cases it will match taxi price or even in some cases be cheaper option to take. Plus, the car that comes to pick you up is a 9 seater, so comfort is guaranteed, and your luggage is taken care of. This comes also very handy for larger groups of people as there are mainly two options on privet transfer, it’s either 9 seater or 13 seater van that pick you up from hotel’s doorstep. For example taking a private transfer from Taksim to Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) starts at 180 TL (~25 EUR) with the same starting price for Istanbul New Airport (IST).
This is an area of expertise where we, Globsfer.COM, offer huge flexibility for our customers. At least try to use our search engine and check for yourself if Globsfer satisfies your standards.

Metro (Coming Soon)
When it comes to infrastructure, Turkey really knows it’s job. They are working on new lines for metro to connect it successfully with both airports. There is no official eta on the end of this project, but it is being worked on a daily basis.

From and To Airport
Istanbul has probably the best way to move from and to airport. The city offers the cheapest means of transport with the bus line that goes every 15 minutes. The buses drive from/to most of the city centers, so it is very easy to navigate. Price goes as low as 18 TL for “Istanbul New Airport” (IST) and 28 TL for “Sabiha Gokcen” (SAW). For IST you take “Hava.ist” buses and for SAW you take “Havatas” buses.

Moving through the city
The public transportation is simply amazing. With a well laid network of metro and tram stations, Istanbul really offers a wide variety of options. Taxi is inexpensive, public transportation is 2.50 TL per passage with “Istanbul Card” and on top of that they have a local means of transport which is very popular amongst locals called “Dolmus” which is a yellow van that goes many ways and they operate 24/7 – price 3.5 TL – 5 TL depending of the distance.

Sea transportation
This one is by far the most interesting way to manage yourself around. Driving through the Bosphorus is breathtaking and what’s even more unbelievable is that it counts as a public transportation, which means it will cost you 2.50 TL to enjoy a nice boat ride. There are many docks around the city so you can use this and plan a good ride through the whole city, even Princes Islands are accessible by the means of public transportation.