The joint venture group, where Limak is a party, has been awarded the tender for the construction and operation of the İstanbul Airport Project on May 3, 2013.

The Project that has been opened by the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 29, 2018 has started to serve under the name of “İstanbul Airport”. The “Implementation Agreement for the Construction of İstanbul Airport within the scope of Build-Operate-Transfer Model” has been executed on November 19, 2013 between IGA Airport Operation Corp., established by the joint venture group to carry out the project which will bring in a new airport to İstanbul, and the General Directorate of State Airports Administration.

The project that is started over an area of 76.5 million square meters on the Black Sea coast of İstanbul and will have 6 independent runways, including the main passenger terminal, will reach a passenger capacity of 200 million when all phases are completed. The first part of the first phase that is comprised of the 1.4 million square meters main terminal building that will serve 90 million passengers annually, 2 runways and ancillary facilities has been taken into operation on the 95th anniversary of the establishment of our Republic. The second part of the first phase will be completed in the first quarter of 2020 with the opening of a third parallel runway.

Transportation from İstanbul Airport to the city center will be provided by deluxe passenger buses, İETT, subway and high-speed train, with Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and the Northern Marmara Motorway, 3-Storey Grand İstanbul Tunnel Project, High-Speed Train and the Airport- Gayrettepe-Halkalı Subway Projects, which will form the backbone of public transportation in İstanbul.

There are more than 500 check-in points and 228 passport control points at İstanbul Airport that has been completed and taken into service within a record time of 42 months. It is thus aimed to minimize the time that passengers will have to spare for the procedures necessary for their flights at the airport. İstanbul Airport serves with a parking area that has a total capacity of 40 thousand vehicles, as 18 thousand indoors and 22 thousand outdoors.

İstanbul Airport has proven its adequacy internationally by nine awards received since ground breaking, even before it was opened, will have its name written in gold letters in civil aviation history and has blazed a trail for many firsts by many features. It has a terminal that can be easily approached by super jumbo jets like Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 and will mark an era in the world with respect to passenger experience. Istanbul Airport, where it will be possible to make transactions through robots, artificial intellect, facial recognition or other personal information, is equipped with cutting-edge technology such as smart system, wireless internet, radio and LTE with new generation GSM infrastructure, sensors and speaking objects, for the comfort and ease of the passengers.

While the wealth of İstanbul mosques, domes and many other historical buildings are reflected onto the project architecture at İstanbul Airport terminal, motifs of Turkish-Islamic art and architecture add beauty, texture and depth to the project. The Air Traffic Control Tower, which was designed by Pininfarina and AECOM and the foundation of which was laid in October 2016, has received the 2016 International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Architecture and Design, Museum and Architectural Art Design and Urban Researches European Center, as a result of the evaluations made among 370 projects. In the meantime, the terminal building of İstanbul Airport has been found worthy of an award at the World Architecture Festival organized in Berlin during November 16-18, 2016 in the “Future Projects-Infrastructure” category.

İstanbul Airport, which is the first and sole project that has been entitled to receive the ISO 14001:2015 Environment Management System Certificate in the aviation sector and other comparable sectors in Turkey, has been found worthy of the IDC Turkey-Best Cost Efficiency Award, the International CSR Excellence Awards-Social Responsibility Project, Turkish Bonds and Loans-Transportation Finance Loan of the Year Award and Stevie International Business Awards-Social Responsibility Program of the Year award in 2017. Meanwhile, it has received the SAP Quality Awards, Stevie International Business Awards and Future IT Summit awards in 2018.

İstanbul Airport, which is accepted as one of the world’s largest aviation center projects built from scratch and will carry the role of Turkey in the international aviation sector to the summit, will evolve into one of the most important hubs in civil aviation activities over a vast geography, extending from New York to Shanghai.