Turkey planning world's largest airport

Transport minister Binali Yildirim said this week that the deadline for bids to build the six-runway airport will be 3 May 2013.  It will be designed to handle 150 million passengers per year and could cost more than $9.3bn

The airport will be Istanbul's third and will pass Dubai World Central which is currently the largest airport in the world with its five runways and 120 million passenger capacity.

Reuters news agency quoted Yildrim as saying the airport will add vital capacity in the region and enhance the role of Istanbul and the flag carrier Turkish Airlines.

"At full capacity the new airport will be the largest in the world in terms of passengers," Yildirim told a news conference in Ankara. "We calculate the whole project will cost more than 7 billion euros excluding financing costs."

The current Ataturk international Airport in Istanbul has a capacity of 45 million and is operated by TAV. It is currently the 14th busiest international airport in the world but is constrained for space. It was originally built in 1924.

Istanbul's second airport Sabiha Gokcen was opened in 2009 and has catered primarily for low cost and regional flights but has grown rapidly and is targeting 25 million passengers in the next ten years.

Turkish Airlines has quietly been competing with Emirates as a global carrier, opening new routes in Asia, Europe and Africa and as part of the Star Alliance it has major connections with the Americas. Straddling Europe and Asia, the airline is recognised as Europe's number one airline.