Terkos lake region a possibility for third Istanbul airport

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş shed some light on the construction of a third airport for Istanbul.

"Following the advice of our Prime Minister, we are starting the consturction of a new airport in Istanbul which will have 5 or 6 runways and a 100 million-passanger capacity in the short term which will be augmented to 150 million afterwards," Topbaş said.

In response to a question regarding the location of the planned airport, Topbaş indicated that the Terkos Lake area, 50 kilometers to the north of Istanbul on the Black Sea coast, is a strong possibility.

Topbaş stressed the insufficiency of Atatürk Airport in handling the city’s air traffic particularty in regards to strong southwestern winds, adding that a proposal for the project will likely be initiated by the end of the year.