Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced that Istanbul's third airport will be opened on October 29, 2017. Davutoğlu underlined the importance of the third airport currently being constructed in Istanbul claiming it will turn Istanbul into an important hub of international aviation as well as being the biggest airport in the world. He visited the construction site, took a briefing from the authorities about the progress of the site and then gave a speech to members of the press. He further said that the project is of the utmost importance as it reflects the country's rising economic power and is one of the biggest projects undertaken in Turkey, both for its business volume and cost.He emphasized the significance of such a large scale project being undertaken solely by Turkish firms as it reflects the improvement in the economy and also the success level achieved by the firms and Turkish construction sector. "This project requires everyone to be sensitive and observant about protecting the urban environment of Istanbul and also extra careful about the structure of the soil. The magnitude of the project and the importance we give to protecting Istanbul's environment are equally as important," Davutoğlu said.Davutoğlu further commented that the environmental zone, tree structure and forestry area around the area will not decrease. "While 600,000 trees will be removed, 5 million will be planted in the area along with forestation work," he said. He added that as soon as the airport opens, 120,000 employment opportunities will be created and it will be the world's busiest airport with approximately 150 million passengers. Prime Minister continued that the location of the airport was selected carefully in order to not destroy or harm Istanbul's urban and natural environment and underlined that the project does not aim to transform a forest into an airport, but rehabilitate an area with a spoiled topography. After the project is completed, the topographical degeneration that has been ongoing for 60 to 70 years will be rehabilitated and the soil will regain its previous strength and durability.He further said that an airport's quality as soon as you land in a country is proof of that country's development level and Istanbul has become a major city in terms of aviation, due both to the increase in economic and political activity and the high performance of Turkish Airlines.Istanbul's third airport was planned to be completed by 2018, which is a part of the government's plan to transform the city into a regional transport hub, but is now expected to be completed earlier than scheduled with Davutoğlu's announcement. Construction started in June 2014. The airport is located in Arnavutköy, a district in the northern part of the city's European side. One of the government's mega projects along with Kanal Istanbul, a new waterway that will straddle Istanbul's European side and a third bridge.The project is estimated to cost more than 10 billion euros when construction is completed. The Cengiz-Kolin-Limak-Mapa-Kalyon Consortium, a joint venture of Turkish companies, won the tender for the third airport in May 2013, promising to pay the state 22.1 billion euros plus tax over 25 years starting in 2018. Built over an area of about 79 million square meters, the airport will considerably relax aircraft traffic on the European side of the city. Atatürk International Airport, currently the only airport on the European side, is expected to be closed in 2021 and fully replaced by the third airport. The third airport is further from central Istanbul, while Atatürk airport remains in the middle of an area of rapid urban development and works over capacity. In 20 years' time, Istanbul's airports' commercial aircraft traffic will exceed 1 million aircraft, according to a 2010 forecast by Middle East Technical University. The third airport will have a capacity of 150 million passengers per year.The airport will have 165 passenger boarding bridges, four terminals connected with a railway system, three maintenance buildings, eight air traffic control towers, six runways, 16 taxiways, an airport hangar of 6.5 million square meters with a capacity of 500 airplanes, a parking lot with a capacity of about 70,000 vehicles and touted as the largest airport parking lot in Europe, a clinic, fire department, hotels, a convention center and recycling and waste disposal plants. The airport will be connected to the Istanbul metro and multi-lane highways will be built to facilitate access. The area where the airport is being built was chosen with consideration of ecological balance, wind data and the natural and artificial obstacles of the region.