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TEHRAN, October 29 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on Monday due to inaugurate Istanbul's new international airport, which his government claims will become the world's largest.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The airport, one of a number of mega-projects under Erdogan's rule, was initially scheduled to fully open on Monday but construction has been marred by delays and a workers' strike over poor conditions.
Erdogan has championed the 10.5 billion euro ($12 billion) project in his bid to make Istanbul a global travel hub linking Europe, Asia and Africa and turn flag carrier Turkish Airlines into an aviation giant.
However the airport will only offer flights to five destinations until an expanded opening on December 29, from when it is expected to handle up to 90 million passengers a year, rising to 200 million when all facilities are completed in 2028.
That would be nearly double the number of passengers moving through the world's current busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson in the US city of Atlanta.
The first flight from the as-yet unnamed airport will be to Ankara on Thursday.
Erdogan is expected to reveal the airport's new name at a lavish ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Monday attended by foreign leaders Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani of Qatar and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
Source: AFP
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