伊斯坦堡機場

背景

伊斯坦堡阿塔圖克機場空間不足的問題使得增建跑道變得困難。這限制了機場及其所在城市的發展。因此，土耳其機場管理局無法讓更多的航班、貨物容納於伊斯坦堡阿塔圖克機場。這增加了與空中交通擁擠相關的問題。因此，他們決定建造另一個機場。這個機場旨在服務伊斯坦堡。

由於伊斯坦堡阿塔圖克機場停機位不足，土耳其航空公司的飛機被轉移到薩比哈·格克琴機場。薩比哈·格克琴機場的航站樓已達到最大容量，可為2500萬乘客提供服務。此外，在2015年，該機場已經為2800萬乘客提供了服務。這一現像是由於2013年以來交通增長率平均為20％。

伊斯坦堡阿塔圖克機場是歐洲最繁忙的機場之一。自2013年以來，它在客流量方面一直位居歐洲五大繁忙機場之列。在2017年，伊斯坦布爾的兩個機場共處理了超過1億名乘客。^[3]就區域機場面積而言，倫敦地區的六個機場每年為超過1.5億名乘客提供服務，而巴黎地區的三個機場每年為大約1億名乘客提供服務。

Location

有關當局決定在 Arnavutköy, Göktürk, 和 Çatalca, 伊斯坦布爾市中心以北和之間 黑海 的沿岸城鎮 Yeniköy​（土耳其语）, Tayakadın 和 Akpınar 道路交叉口建設新機場. 這個區域 7,600-公頃（19,000-英畝） 鄰近 Lake Terkos. 有些 6,172公頃（15,250英畝） 區域是國有林地. 伊斯坦布爾機場和阿塔圖爾克機場之間的距離約為 35 km（22 mi）. The area encompassed old open-pit coal mines, which were later filled with soil.^[4]

According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report published in April 2013, there were a total of 2,513,341 trees in the area and 657,950 of them would need to be cut indispensably, while 1,855,391 trees would be moved to new places. However, the Ministry of Forest and Water Management claimed the exact number of trees cut and moved would only be revealed after construction was complete.^[4]

Construction

For Istanbul Atatürk Airport, a tender was made for its construction as well as its functioning. The same was held on May 3, 2013. 4 stages of construction were decided for this project. It is said that with the completion of these stages, the airport being constructed could serve many passengers. Their number was estimated to be around 200 million. Considering the time when the airport was being planned, this serving capacity could be the biggest across the globe. It was decided that in a duration of 42 months, stage 1 would be complete. Also, the handing over of land would get over. The project aimed at utilizing around €7 billion. This sum did not include any financing cost.

The government assured a consortium for both construction purposes and operation. Further, passengers in a number of 342 million were assured over a period of 12 years. Grimshaw, based in London, headed this design team. The team had the Nordic Office of Architecture from Norway. In addition, Haptic, based in London, was also a part of the team.

At the bidding session on 3 May 2013, only four out of fifteen Turkish and two foreign companies that were qualified as bidders showed up. The Turkish joint venture consortium of Cengiz-Kolin-Limak-Mapa-Kalyon won the tender and were obliged to pay the government €26.142 billion including value-added tax for a 25-year lease starting from 2018. The completion date of the construction's first stage was officially set for 2018 – 42 months after the finalization of the tender's approval.^[4]

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 7 June 2014,^[5] though construction only started in May 2015 after the land was officially handed over.^[6]

The inauguration of the airport took place on the planned date of 29 October 2018. It was reported that the first test landing at the airport would take place on 26 February 2018; however, the first landing took place on 20 June 2018.^[7] Testing of navigational and electronic systems with DHMİ aircraft had begun on 15 May 2018.^[8]

The control tower is in the shape of the Turkish national flower, the tulip.^[9]

Project stages

The construction of the airport is taking place in several stages, expanding the airport and its facilities over time.^{[10][11][12][13]}

The first stage consists of the main terminal, with an annual passenger capacity of 90 million and an area of 1,440,000 m²（15,500,000 sq ft） – making it the world's largest airport terminal building under a single roof,^[14] despite Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 having a larger floor area at 1,713,000 m²（18,440,000 sq ft） due to tunnels connecting its two concourses. There will also be two pairs of parallel runways connected to eight parallel taxiways to the west of the main terminal, approximately 4,000,000 m²（43,000,000 sq ft） of apron space, and an indoor car-park with a capacity of 12,000 vehicles. In addition, the airport will feature three technical blocks for repairs, maintenance, and fueling, as well as an air traffic control tower, eight ramp control towers, and hangars for cargo and general aviation aircraft.^[15] Several other services are also to be in operation, including hospitals, frequent-flyer and VIP lounges, prayer rooms, convention centers, and hotels; some of these are expected to form part of the Istanbul Airport City project.^[16]

The second stage will add a third independent runway to the east of the main terminal, as well as a fourth remote runway with an east–west heading and additional taxiways and apron areas. The third stage is planned to add a second passenger terminal with a capacity of 60 million annual passengers and an estimated area of around 960,000 m²（10,300,000 sq ft）, as well as an additional runway and new support facilities area. The final and fourth stage of expansion will, along with adding another runway, allow for the construction of satellite terminals with a combined capacity of 50 million passengers and area of up to 800,000 m²（8,600,000 sq ft） if needed.^[15]

Once fully completed by 2025, the airport will have six sets of runways (eight in total), 16 taxiways, and a total annual passenger capacity of 150 million passengers.^[14][17] If fully expanded to a capacity of 200 million, the airport will exhibit four terminal buildings with interconnecting rail access that combine for a total indoor area of 3,200,000 m²（34,000,000 sq ft）. The airport will also have a 6,500,000 m²（70,000,000 sq ft） apron with a parking capacity of 500 aircraft, VIP lounges, cargo and general aviation facilities, a state palace, and indoor and outdoor parking that can accommodate up to 70,000 cars. A medical center, aircraft rescue and firefighting stations, hotels, convention centers, power plants, and wastewater treatment facilities will also be built.

Controversies

The Turkish Chamber of Environmental Engineers (ÇMO) took the project tender to court on grounds that the project violated the existing legislation for the preparation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report.^[4] In February 2014, an Istanbul administrative court ordered construction of the airport to be suspended.^[18] However, the groundbreaking ceremony still took place a few months later, on 7 June 2014.^[5]

A report published in Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in February 2018 claimed that more than 400 workers had been killed during the construction of the airport, with accidents killing three to four workers every week, and families of the killed workers being paid to remain silent about the incidents.^[19][20] Turkish daily Evrensel also alleged that fatal accidents continued to occur.^[20] This prompted opposition MP Veli Ağbaba to submit a written questionnaire to the Turkish parliament on 13 February 2018. In response, the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security claimed that there were only 27 fatalities during the construction of the airport.^[21] In October 2019, UK publications Construction News and Architects' Journal published a joint investigation into fatalities at the airport, nicknamed by workers "the cemetery" as so many have died.^[22] By this point, the official death toll had risen to 55, h unofficial estimates suggested that the figure could be "higher than 400". Four architects worked on the airport's design, three of them being UK-based: Grimshaw Architects, Scott Brownrigg, and Haptic Architects.^[22]

Mass worker protests broke out on 14 September 2018 after a bus carrying workers crashed, injuring 17. Complaints by workers included poor living conditions in "vermin-infested dormitories", issues in transportation that had left them stranded under the rain or on site during holidays, and long delays in payments, among others.^[23][24] Police and gendarmerie forces were called in and workers eventually returned to work under alleged threats of arrest or further withholding of wages.^[23]

On 19 December 2018, part of the airport construction site was flooded after heavy rainfall.^[25]

In January 2020, MP Meral Danış Bestaş demanded an explanation for why the new translation service of 36 languages at Istanbul Airport did not include Kurdish, the biggest minority language and thus second-biggest language overall within Turkey.^[26]

Operations

The opening ceremony took place on 29 October 2018, scheduled so as to coincide with the 95th anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic.^[27] The airport had been unofficially known as 'Istanbul New Airport' during construction - the new official name of 'Istanbul Airport' was announced at the opening ceremony. The first flight from the airport was Turkish Airlines flight TK2124 to the Turkish capital Ankara on 31 October 2018.^[28] On 1 November 2018, five daily flights began to arrive and depart from the airport: from Ankara, Antalya, Baku, North Nicosia, and İzmir,^[29] followed by Adana and Trabzon starting in December.

Before the full transfer, all flights were operated exclusively by Turkish Airlines. Regularly scheduled flights to all of the new airport's destinations continued to depart from Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen airports alongside these trial flights. It was originally planned that on 31 December 2018, all equipment from Atatürk Airport would be transferred to the new airport via the O-7 Motorway.^[30][31] As of 17 January 2019, the transfer phase was set to start 1 March 2019.^[32] However, on 25 February, the transfer phase was moved a fourth time to 5 April 2019.^[33]

The full transfer of all scheduled commercial passenger flights from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to the new Istanbul Airport took place on 6 April 2019 between 02:00 and 14:00. Hundreds of trucks carried more than 10,000 pieces of equipment, each weighing about 44 tons were moved to the new airport over 41 hours.^[34] Istanbul Atatürk Airport's IATA code IST was also transferred to the new airport.

The airport currently has one terminal in service for domestic and international flights and four runways that are currently in operation. The two 17/35 runways are both 4,100 metres (13,451 feet) long, while the 16/34 runways are both 3,750 metres (12,303 feet) long. Runways 17L/35R and 16R/34L are 60 metres (197 feet) wide, while 17R/35L and 16L/34R are 45 metres (148 feet) wide. All runway surfaces are asphalt.^[35]

Concourses

The airport features a total of five concourses lettered A, B, D, F, and G with a total of 143 passenger boarding bridges. Concourse G, which is located in the southeast, is reserved solely for domestic flights. Three passenger boarding bridges of Concourse F which is directly to the north of Concourse G have also been allocated for domestic flights. Concourses A, B, D, and F are used for international flights. The C and E concourses connect directly to the main terminal and are therefore not independent concourses.^[36]

Security

3,500 security personnel and a total of 1,850 police, including 750 immigration officers, provide the airport's security.^[37] The site's perimeter is protected using ground radar, fixed CCTV cameras every 60 meters, pan–tilt–zoom cameras every 360 meters, thermal cameras and fiber optic sensors every 720 meters. The active terminal building uses up to 9,000 CCTV cameras.^[38]

Although currently the airport is only serviced from the city by affordable private Havaist and public İETT buses,^[67] it will eventually be linked by two lines of the Istanbul Metro. The new M11 line starting from Gayrettepe station is scheduled to open in late 2021. Another from Halkalı on the Marmaray rail line is expected to be completed in 2022.^[68]

Mainline railway will connect the airport to Halkalı, and via outer city bypass running over the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge across the Bosporus and connecting with the Asian rail network at Gebze.^[69]

Taxi

Istanbul city taxis are readily available 24 hours a day outside the arrival and departure areas of the airport. A trip to Istanbul city centre by taxi takes approximately 40 minutes.^[70]