Plane spotting in Istanbul: Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen

Updated: October 2026 – Saturday, just after two in the afternoon. The shuttle bus has brought you from the terminal to the spotter zone, one of Istanbul Airport’s long runways lies in front of you, and on approach the jets line up one after another: a Boeing 777-300ER with the red tail of Turkish Airlines, behind it an A321neo of the same airline, then a Turkish Cargo freighter. Plane spotting in Istanbul means hub traffic at a density you get in only a few places in Europe – and on the other side of the Bosphorus, Sabiha Gökçen offers a second major airport. This guide shows you how to plan both, what you will see, and what to watch out for in Turkey.

Istanbul at a glance

Istanbul has two major commercial airports, and both play in the top league. Istanbul Airport (IATA IST, ICAO LTFM) is in the Arnavutköy district north of the city on the European side, near the Black Sea coast. It opened in October 2018 and took over all scheduled passenger traffic from the old Atatürk Airport on April 6, 2019 – along with the IST code. The operator is the iGA consortium, and the owner is the state airport authority DHMI.

On the Asian side, in the Pendik district, is Sabiha Gökçen Airport (IATA SAW, ICAO LTFJ). It has been in operation since 2001, is named after the first Turkish female military pilot, and is run by Malaysia Airports. It has had a second runway since December 2023.

The numbers speak for themselves: in 2025, Istanbul Airport counted around 84.5 million passengers, about 66.6 million of them on international traffic, after around 80.4 million the year before. Sabiha Gökçen grew by 17 percent in 2025 to a good 48.4 million passengers, making it the country’s second-largest airport. Together the two airports handle well over 130 million passengers a year – and give you an enormous amount of material over a long weekend.

The runway system at Istanbul Airport

Istanbul Airport is built for growth. It has several long runways, almost all of them running north–south:

Runway	Length	Remark
16L/34R and 16R/34L	3,750 m each	parallel runway pair
17L/35R and 17R/35L	4,100 m each	parallel runway pair, the airport’s longest runways
18/36	3,060 m	another north–south runway
09/27	2,819 m	shorter east–west runway

Not all runways are in use for takeoffs and landings at the same time. Which combination is active depends on wind, time of day and traffic volume. Because the main runways all point roughly north or south, the wind decides whether approaches come in over the Black Sea or over the hinterland. Before you head out, it is always worth checking wind and METAR. How to read them is explained in Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport and Reading METAR and TAF.

The official spotter zone at Istanbul Airport

The most important news for spotters: at Istanbul Airport, there is an official way to the fence. The operator iGA opened a spotter zone in 2021 and calls it the first official spotter zone in Turkey. You stand there on a viewing area with a view of a runway and the tower and watch takeoffs and landings up close.

According to the airport’s published information, it works like this:

Three hours sound tight, but at a hub this size they are very productive. Bring a telephoto lens that covers roughly 100 to 400 millimeters, and a second, shorter lens for taxiing traffic and scenes with the tower. You will find more on choosing a lens in Focal length for plane spotting. In summer heat the air shimmers heavily above the long asphalt; Avoiding heat haze offers countermeasures.

Because the main runways run north–south, the light depends heavily on which side of the runway you stand on and how the sun moves across the afternoon. In backlight you work with silhouettes instead of registration portraits – you will find ideas for that in Backlight in aircraft photography.

Outside the spotter zone

Spotters also shoot around Istanbul Airport from public roads in the surrounding villages and at field edges. Spotting guides point out, however, that the hobby is little known in Turkey and that police or security staff can quickly misread a photographer with a big telephoto lens. So stick to a few basic rules: do not cross barriers, no ladders at the fence, no photos of police, security staff or military facilities, and stay calm if someone approaches you. Why a long lens arouses suspicion is explained in Big telephoto lens, big suspicion, and how to behave during a check is covered in Police checks while spotting.

The traffic mix at Istanbul Airport

Turkish Airlines: the heart of the hub

Everything here revolves around Turkish Airlines. The airline was founded in 1933, has been a member of Star Alliance since 2008, and set a Guinness record in December 2024 for the most countries served. For you, that means transfer traffic comes in waves, and in every wave narrowbody and widebody jets stand cheek by jowl.

On short and medium-haul routes you mainly see the A320 and A321 families, including the A321neo, as well as Boeing 737s such as the 737-800 and the 737 MAX 8. The real highlight is long haul: the A330-300, A350-900, Boeing 777-300ER and 787-9 are everyday sights here rather than exceptions. If you want to tell the two modern widebody types apart at a distance, A350 or Boeing 787? helps.

Turkish Cargo and freighters

Since February 2022, all cargo traffic has also run through the new airport, after Turkish Cargo moved from Atatürk Airport. In 2025, Istanbul Airport handled a good two million tonnes of cargo. On the runway, that means freighters like the Airbus A330-200F and the Boeing 777F in Turkish Cargo colors, plus visitors from other cargo airlines. How to tell freighter versions from passenger jets is explained in Recognizing cargo aircraft.

Visitors from all over the world

Besides the home airline, numerous foreign carriers fly to Istanbul Airport, from European low-cost carriers like Wizz Air to airlines from Central Asia like Uzbekistan Airways. It is precisely these visitors from regions that rarely show up in central Europe that make Istanbul exciting for registration collectors. Many long-haul flights land in fixed time windows; When long-haul flights land and depart in Europe gives the background.

Sabiha Gökçen: the Asian side

Sabiha Gökçen is the counterpart to the hub in the north. Low-cost carriers dominate here, above all Pegasus Airlines and AJet, both of which have their main base at SAW.

	Istanbul Airport (IST)	Sabiha Gökçen (SAW)
Location	European side, Arnavutköy	Asian side, Pendik
Passengers 2025	around 84.5 million	around 48.4 million
Runways	several north–south runways plus 09/27	06L/24R (3,000 m) and 06R/24L (3,500 m)
Defining airlines	Turkish Airlines, Turkish Cargo	Pegasus, AJet
Official spotting spot	iGA spotter zone after registration	not known
Metro	M11	M4

Pegasus flies almost exclusively Airbus jets of the A320 family, mainly A321neo and A320neo, supplemented by a few Boeing 737-800s. Since October 1, 2026, the Czech Smartwings group has also belonged to the company. AJet, formerly AnadoluJet, is the low-cost subsidiary of Turkish Airlines and has operated with its own flight operations since 2024. Its fleet mixes A320neos and A321neos with Boeing 737-800s and 737 MAX 8s. That is exactly what makes SAW interesting: behind a Pegasus A321neo there can be an AJet Airbus and then an AJet 737 – the type alone does not tell you who is landing.

Visitors from the Gulf and Asia join them, including Air Arabia, flydubai, Flynas, Qatar Airways and AirAsia X, as well as cargo flights by Cargolux. For collectors with a soft spot for Gulf airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad provides the background.

Since December 25, 2023, Sabiha Gökçen has had a second, parallel runway. It is designed to double capacity from 40 to 80 aircraft movements per hour – so correspondingly more is going on on the runways.

Spotting at Sabiha Gökçen

No official spotter zone like the one at Istanbul Airport is known for Sabiha Gökçen. Many spotters therefore collect their SAW sightings as passengers: through the windows in the terminal, at the gates, or from a window seat on takeoff and landing. With a bit of planning, you get Pegasus, AJet and Gulf visitors up close this way. Tips for clean pictures through glass are in Photographing through fences and glass, and you can find the best seat with Choosing the best window seat for photos. At the fence with a big telephoto lens, the same applies as in the north: keep a low profile, stay away from security areas, and when in doubt, rather skip it.

Getting there and planning your day

Istanbul is huge, and the two airports are far apart, separated by the Bosphorus. Depending on traffic, you spend a long time getting between them. So plan only one airport per day if possible.

Metro line M11 runs to Istanbul Airport. It has connected the airport with Gayrettepe, and thus with the city’s metro network, since 2024, and since June 2026 it also extends to Halkalı. Havaist buses and IETT city buses run there as well. You get to Sabiha Gökçen on metro line M4 via Kadıköy, which has been extended to the airport since October 2022, or by shuttle buses from places like Taksim and Kadıköy. Getting to the spot offers general tips for getting there without a car.

If you want to pursue the hobby on the Bosphorus for longer, Istanbul combines well with other destinations. Greece is not far across the Aegean, and with Turkish Airlines or AJet you can also reach Antalya with its leisure airline traffic. If you want to go further east, change in Istanbul toward Dubai. Spotting abroad sums up the general rules for traveling abroad.

Registrations and logbook

Turkish aircraft carry registrations with the prefix TC-, followed by three letters. Because many identical types operate in Istanbul, the registration is the only way to keep your sightings apart later. If it is not legible in the photo, Identifying an illegible registration helps, and if you want to collect TC registrations on purpose, Collecting registrations is worth a look.

There is one peculiarity when it comes to notes in Turkey: in military restricted areas, the law also prohibits writing things down. At civilian airports like IST and SAW, noting airliner registrations is unproblematic, but military aircraft belong neither on your memory card nor in your notebook.

Conclusion

Istanbul is one of the most exciting spotting destinations on the edge of Europe. At Istanbul Airport you get the full program of a global hub: Turkish Airlines in all sizes, Turkish Cargo freighters, and visitors from regions you hardly see at home. Sabiha Gökçen complements that with the low-cost world of Pegasus and AJet. The key is the official spotter zone – and behavior that takes into account that spotting is still not widespread in Turkey. You will find more destinations in the overview of the best spotting locations in Europe.