The Last Days of Istanbul Ataturk Airport

Ataturk Airport at Istanbul is the busiest airport in Turkey with 68 million passengers travel through in 2018. This video shares activities of the last days of Ataturk Airport before the new Istanbul Airport took over the operation on 6th April 2019.

Join me to watch the amazing plane spotting actions from Ataturk Airport and an emotional farewell to it. This airport is well known to its amazing plane spotting photos and locations to all the aviation lovers (AvGeeks) in the world.

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Join us for a tribute and farewell video to the old Istanbul Ataturk airport, which has now ceased to operate commercial passenger flights in Turkey as this function has passed to the brand new Istanbul airport. The last ever commercial flight at the airport, Turkish Airlines Flight 54, left Istanbul Ataturk Airport in the early hours of the morning on April 6 2019 destined for Singapore.

We engage in a very enjoyable and thorough plane spotting session during the last few days of Istanbul Ataturk airport’s commercial passenger flight operations with fellow plane spotting enthusiasts, including Turkish airlines pilots, who share their nostalgic and fond memories of the airport with us.

Our plane spotting reveals the enormously diverse range of types of plane and airlines that have made use of Istanbul Ataturk airport with large, public passenger planes, cargo planes and private jets all being seen. In this video, we see aeroplanes from the flag carriers of a number of nations including Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Singapore (Singapore Airlines) as well as Etihad, Gulf Air, Star Alliance, Meraj airlines, Aegean Airlines, Onur Air and Kalitta air. We even see the Libyan airlines A320 which is a real treat.

As of April 6 2019, Istanbul Ataturk airport remains open but now only primarily for cargo, private jet and state/diplomatic aircraft flights. All commercial, public, passenger flights have moved to the new Istanbul airport – check out my last video giving an exciting look in to the new Istanbul airport here:    • The World's BIGGEST Airport opens - New Is...  

The Istanbul Ataturk airport first opened in 1912 but back then, it was a military airfield and had a different name: Yesilkoy Airport. It was only in the 1980s that the airport was renamed in honour of the first president of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

In 2017, it was Europe’s fifth busiest airport and processed more than 63 million passengers that year. The airport features two, linked passenger terminals, as well as a dedicated cargo terminal, which interestingly is equipped to handle radioactive freight. Within the airport grounds are the headquarters of Turkish Airlines and Onur Air.

The airport will surely be remembered for its long history of processing commercial passenger flights. It has earned accolades including Air Transport News’ 2013 Airport of the year and being on the “fifty works in fifty years” list, created by the Turkish chamber of Civil engineers to celebrate some of the most prestigious civil engineering projects in Turkish history.

As always, thanks for watching and be sure to leave us a comment on any fond memories you may have of Istanbul Ataturk airport and your thoughts on the new Istanbul airport too!