A major phase in the construction of the third Istanbul airport, which will turn Istanbul into one of the most important aviation centers in the world, has been completed. Moreover, the assembly of the "space frame" roof of the terminal building, which will open in the first quarter of 2018, has commenced.

The airport, which will have the capacity of 200 million passengers with three terminals and six runways, will be completed in four phases. The first phase of the 1.3 million-square-meter passenger terminal building will host 90 million passengers per year. This capacity will increase to 150 million with the second, third and fourth phases that will add terminal buildings and runways.

Nihat Özdemir, a board member of the new airport's operator, Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA) Corp., recently announced that one-fourth of the project's budget, 1.25 billion euros, has been spent on the project, where 10,200 people are working 24-hours-a-day and have completed 15 percent of the work.

The General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) also announced statistics regarding flights, passengers and cargo for 2015. Accordingly, the number of passengers in all airports in Turkey increased 9.3 percent to 181 million.

Istanbul Atatürk Airport, which is planned to be closed after the new airport is commissioned, hosted 56.7 million passengers in 2014 and increased by 8 percent at the end of 2015.