Turkish Adding More Destinations as New Istanbul Airport Beckons

Turkish Airlines has added Sydney to its list of more than 300 worldwide destinations in some 120 different countries

Other new destinations available through Istanbul and added recently include Yervan, Armenia and Krasnodar in Russia.

Turkish flies to more destinations and countries than any other airline and is planning to continue to increase its rotations from Dublin to Istanbul. At the moment the airline operates 14 fleets weekly but this figure could go up to 17 next year.

Turkish Airlines has shown interest in beginning an Istanbul flight from Belfast International Airport, but a Belfast service is reportedly not high on its immediate priorities, although it is still a possibility.

A new Istanbul airport is opening in the coming year, called Istanbul Yeni Havalimani, or Third Airport, on the European side of the Bosphorus. The airport is planned to be the biggest in the world starting with an initial capacity of 150 million rising to more than 200 million passengers.

The current number one airport in Istanbul, Ataturk, will be closed down once the new one is operational. The new airport will be inaugurated in late 2018 with preleminary operations due to start shortly afterwards.

Currently almost 80 per cent of the new airport, which will have six runways, is completed. It will also have the world’s largest terminal building.

The current airport Ataturk is sited too close to the city of Istanbul and its growth has been limited because of this.

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