By Christopher Harress - Turkey has long been the land bridge where travelers have made the journey between the East and the West. While the country remains a melting pot of religion and culture, the days of the Silk Road being the a main route through the country are long gone, but now Turkey wants to once again become a main hub of global transportation.
Turkey’s new airport based outside of Istanbul is due for completion by 2019 and will be able to host more than 150 million passengers at its peak. While the airport will not immediately see that kind of traffic, the signs are encouraging that the country may meet their goal of becoming a transport hub of choice for travelers going from between the East and the West as well as those travelling down to Africa.
Istanbul’s Ataturk airport currently processes around 45 million passengers per year, growing by four percent between 2007 and 2008 to 20 percent between 2011 and 2012 proves that the signs are all there. That growth equates to about 45 million passengers per year by current levels, but the Turks want to see that traffic double by 2017. This would require 15 percent growth in each one of those years. If they managed it, it would beat Beijing’s 82 million and be level with Atlanta’s 90 million, both 2013 figures.
However, plans for the newest airport, which will have six runways, is primarily being built because of the limited capacity at Ataturk airport. Officials have bet that the 150 million-passenger capacity of the new airport will be reached by 2026, which would require seven years of year-to-year growth of around 19 percent each year.
On a whole, Turkey is quickly realizing its goal to become a global aviation hub based in between the East and the West, similar to Doha, Qatar in the Middle East. Turkey currently has seven airports that have either been extended or in the process of being extended. Between those seven and other regional airports in Turkey, six have received new terminals in 2013.