Air bridges being installed in Istanbul's 3rd airport as 64.5 pct of construction completehttps://t.co/Cjsp7HQrzb pic.twitter.com/G6zaxWnd4I
— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) September 13, 2017
As the construction of Istanbul's third airport continues in full speed, the air bridges, which connect boarding gates with airplanes, were installed for the first time.
The final shape of the main terminal building also started to appear in aerial footage. It will be the key structure in the final stage of the airport, which has been completed by 64.5 percent.
Istanbul Grand Airport (IGA) CEO Yusuf Akçayoğlu stated that four air bridges have been installed out of the total 143 that will be located in the giant structure.
One of the key elements of passenger comfort in airports is the boarding process, Akçayoğlu said, adding that the airport will be able serve 114 aircraft simultaneously through air bridges.
He noted that Airbus A-380 planes, currently the world's largest passenger aircraft, require three air bridges during boarding, and the new airport will be able to serve four A-380's at the same time.
Akçayoğlu said that the first phase of the project will be opened by October 29, 2018, the Turkish Republic Day, as previously announced. He added that the first runway, including the taxi ways, has been completed, while construction work for the second runway is 80 percent complete.
The airport, which is expected to serve more than 150 million passengers when all phases are completed, will have four terminals connected with a railway system, three maintenance buildings, eight air traffic control towers, six runways, 16 taxiways, 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.
