Istanbul Airport

Istanbul is the gateway between Europe and Asia – and since 2019 that applies to aviation too. At the new airport in the north of the city, Turkish Airlines bundles connections to more countries than almost any other airline, and the apron is accordingly colorful: widebody jets of the home airline next to guests from Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and the Far East. Add something rare at big hubs: an official spotter zone that the operator organizes itself.

A megaproject in record time

For a long time Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy was the gateway to Istanbul. Squeezed between the city and the Sea of Marmara, it hit its limits while Turkish Airlines kept growing. The answer was a complete new build – on a huge, previously barely developed site in the Arnavutköy district on the European side, near the Black Sea coast.

In 2013 a consortium of Turkish construction groups won the contract, and in June 2014 ground was broken. According to the operator, the airport was standing after only 42 months of construction. It was opened symbolically on October 29, 2018, Republic Day. The project was not without criticism: environmental groups criticized the clearing of large forest areas and encroachment on wetlands, and working conditions on the construction site made headlines.

The airport is operated by the company iGA (İstanbul Grand Airport). The model is a classic build-operate-transfer model: the consortium builds, operates and collects revenue for 25 years, after which the facility reverts to the state. Since 2022, by its own account, iGA has belonged to the holdings Kalyon and Cengiz.

The overnight move

Not only the construction but also the move was spectacular. After the opening, Turkish Airlines at first flew only a handful of routes from the new airport, and most of the traffic stayed at Atatürk for months. The actual switch took place in early April 2019: within a good 40 hours, truck convoys with ground equipment, spare parts and material rolled across the city. On April 6, 2019, the last scheduled flight left Atatürk – and the IATA code IST passed to the new airport. The old airport has operated under a different code since.

For spotters who were in Istanbul before 2019, that means: old logbook entries with “IST” refer to Atatürk, new ones to the airport in Arnavutköy. If you keep your sightings cleanly, you therefore also note the ICAO code – the new airport has LTFM. Why codes and registrations matter so much when documenting is in the article on flight tracking with ADS-B.

Freight moved too. Turkish Cargo relocated its operations step by step and completed the switch in February 2022. Since then the new airport has also been the airline’s cargo hub.

Six runways, two axes

Anyone looking at a map of the airport for the first time is surprised: instead of two or three runways as in Frankfurt or Munich, there are six here. Five of them run north–south, arranged in groups west and east of the terminal. Since September 18, 2026, a first east–west runway has been added. With it iGA mainly wants to relieve domestic flights and eastbound traffic and shorten holding and taxi times.

According to the operator, three of the north–south runways count as main runways and two as secondary runways. Since April 2025 iGA has operated three parallel runways completely independently of one another – by its own account as the first airport in Europe. For you that means: at peak times aircraft land and take off simultaneously at several places on the grounds, and which runway you can see from your location is decisive.

How air traffic control currently distributes the runways changes with traffic and time of day. So check live in a flight tracker where takeoffs and where landings are happening.

Runway direction in use: north or south?

Aircraft take off and land into the wind. If it blows from the north, movements on the north–south runways run toward 34, 35 and 36 – aircraft land coming from the south and take off to the north toward the Black Sea. With a south wind the picture flips, and 16, 17 and 18 apply. The new east–west runway complements the system but changes nothing about the basic principle.

The basics of how to estimate wind and runway direction in use before you set off are in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport. At such a large airport especially, looking beforehand pays off: if you know the direction, you also know whether the aircraft taxi toward the tower or lift off in the distance.

Turkish Airlines shapes the picture

At Istanbul Airport Turkish Airlines is everywhere. The airline uses its home hub as a connecting point between Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and its fleet is accordingly broad. On long-haul you see the Boeing 777-300ER, the Airbus A350-900, the Boeing 787-9 and the Airbus A330-300. On European and domestic routes narrowbodies from both manufacturers fly, such as the Airbus A321neo and the Boeing 737 MAX 8.

This very mix makes Istanbul exciting: at hardly any other hub does the home airline fly Airbus and Boeing in so many variants side by side. If you want to tell the A350 and 787 apart reliably at a distance, you will find the features in the article A350 or Boeing 787?, and for the 777 and 787, Telling the Boeing 777 and 787 apart helps.

Add Turkish Cargo. The cargo division operates pure freighters, including the Boeing 777F, and also uses the cargo hold of the passenger aircraft. The low-cost subsidiary AJet, by contrast, has its focus at Istanbul’s second airport.

Who else lands in Istanbul

According to the operator, more than 115 airlines serve the airport (as of January 2026). Because Turkish Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, you see many partners of the alliance, including Lufthansa. Add the big Gulf carriers such as Qatar Airways and Emirates as well as numerous airlines from Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Africa that rarely or never appear in central Europe. These “exotics” are the real reason for the trip for many spotters.

Important for planning: Istanbul has two big airports. The low-cost airline Pegasus and AJet concentrate on Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side. Leisure airlines such as SunExpress are found mainly at the vacation airports, above all Antalya Airport.

The terminal and the tulip tower

The terminal is one single, gigantic building: according to the operator about 1.4 million square meters under one roof, designed for 90 million passengers a year. Five piers branch off a central area – one for domestic flights, four for international traffic. Connecting passengers accordingly walk long distances, but through the large windows they see a lot of the apron on the way.

The airport’s landmark is the tower. Designed by Pininfarina together with the planning firm AECOM, its shape recalls a tulip – the flower is a national symbol of Turkey. For photos the tower is a rewarding subject: a landing aircraft with the tulip tower in the background is instantly recognizable to everyone as Istanbul.

In the long term the airport is planned considerably larger. The operator names as a goal, after full build-out, a capacity of up to 200 million passengers a year. A second terminal is part of these later expansion stages.

iGA Spotter: the official spotter zone

For spotters Istanbul Airport is special for one reason: with iGA Spotter the operator has set up what it says is Turkey’s first official spotter zone. According to iGA it is located so that you look at one of the runways and at the tower. Tripods and long telephoto lenses are expressly allowed.

The procedure is clearly regulated – and differs markedly from a freely accessible visitors’ hill. According to the airport’s website (2025 season, recheck the information before your visit):

• The dates take place on Saturday afternoons, in the season from May to November.
• Registration opens online on Mondays at 10 a.m.; there are 50 places per date, after which the form closes automatically.
• Participation is free. You upload the front and back of your ID and must show up with exactly this document.
• Confirmation comes about three days before by WhatsApp.
• A shuttle takes you from the terminal (second floor, at column 7) to the zone and back.
• Under 18 you may only take part with a legal guardian.

Which focal length you need for the zone depends on how far away the runway in use is. A telephoto zoom up to 400 or 500 millimeters covers most situations; tips on choosing are in the article on the right focal length. More on spots in and around the city is collected in the article Plane spotting in Istanbul.

Getting there and daily rhythm

The airport is far outside – depending on destination and route about 35 to 50 kilometers from downtown. The most convenient connection is the metro line M11: it has run to the airport since January 2023, was extended to Gayrettepe in 2024 and has also reached Halkalı in the west of the city since June 2026. Airport buses also run to many districts. By taxi you are on the road for about an hour, depending on traffic.

Unlike German airports, Istanbul has no strict night curfew in the style of Munich or Frankfurt. As a transfer hub the airport works in waves, in which many arrivals and departures fall shortly after one another – also late in the evening and at night. How such waves work and how you can use them for your planning is explained in the article on hub waves at hubs. For the spotter zone, though, what counts above all is what happens on Saturday afternoon.

Istanbul compared

With about 84.5 million passengers in 2025, Istanbul plays in the same league as London Heathrow Airport and clearly ahead of Frankfurt Airport. During the pandemic period it was at times even Europe’s busiest airport. The business model resembles the Gulf hubs more than the classic European hubs: a strong home airline uses the geographic location to transfer traffic between continents. If you want to compare, look at Dubai Airport and Doha Hamad Airport.

For a Turkey trip with a camera it is worth combining Istanbul with a second airport: Sabiha Gökçen for the low-cost fleets, Antalya for leisure airliners from half of Europe. Practical tips are in the article Plane spotting on vacation.

Conclusion

Istanbul Airport is a superlative in almost every respect: built in record time, with six runways, a gigantic terminal and a home airline that flies to half the world. For spotters it is interesting mainly for its variety – and for iGA Spotter, an official location that many big hubs don’t have.

The price is planning: registration on Monday, appointment on Saturday, a long journey and a look at the runway direction in use. If you prepare that, you take away from one afternoon in Arnavutköy types and airlines for which you would otherwise have to travel halfway around the world.