Turkish Airlines announced it will be operating a limited number of domestic and international routes from the Istanbul New Airport, which officially opened last week.

All other operations and existing flight schedule will run as usual from Istanbul Atatürk Airport, it said in a statement.

New additional flights will be operated from Istanbul New Airport to Ankara, Antalya, Izmir, Azerbaijan (Baku) and TRNC (Ercan) until December 30. Pursuant to existing planning, on December 31, all operations will move from Istanbul Atatürk Airport, after which, all flights will operate from Istanbul New Airport.

At the opening ceremony on October 29, M. İlker Aycı, chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee of Turkish Airlines, commented; “Turkish Airlines starts an exciting new chapter today as we move to our new home at Istanbul Airport. The new hub of our national flag-carrier plays an important role in Turkish Airlines’ future growth strategy and will offer a seamless experience to our passengers, international and domestic alike.”

Inaugurated by President Tayyip Erdogan, the 11.7 billion airport is likely to be one of the world's busiest when it is fully operational.

The megaproject will be launched in four phases with the final phase set to be complete in 2028. In all, the complex will occupy an area of 76.5-sq-km, boasting six runways, four terminals and 233 aircraft parking positions, with the capacity to serve up to 200 million passengers a year with over 500 check-in desks and 225,000 employees.

Passengers on the first Turkish Airlines flights to the new airport that specially operated for the opening ceremony, received souvenir tickets. - TradeArabia News Service