Travel.ru tested Istanbul's new airport, which opened to full capacity this spring, and found it to be a highly unusual transport hub. Its enormous size brings with it many advantages and some disadvantages that are worth considering when flying to or transiting through Istanbul.
Landing. All Istanbul flights from Russia currently operate to the new airport, except those operated by Pegasus Airlines and Pobeda Airlines. Turkish Airlines, for which it is a new main hub, Aeroflot, AtlasGlobal, OnurAir, and most major international carriers fly to the new airport—in short, all those who previously flew to Ataturk Airport, which is now closed to passenger flights.
Although the airport has moved more than thirty kilometers northwest, away from the city centers, not all passengers are left without breathtaking views of Istanbul from above. While the low aisles over the city center are gone, the prevailing boarding direction is now south to north, meaning passengers flying from Russia have a good chance of seeing the city center and the Bosphorus from the left-hand windows during approach. For this view, choose seat A on the plane.
Those who want to see the new airport from the plane are better off choosing the right-hand windows (in most cases, these are seats F or K). Boarding from the south on the runway closest to the terminal will provide an excellent view of the terminal, while boarding on the runway furthest from the terminal will provide a panoramic view of the entire airport. When taxiing from either runway, passengers seated in the right-hand windows have the best chance of seeing the new, world's largest terminal.
However, the gigantic scale of the new airport will likely quickly dawn on all passengers, as taxiing from the outer runway to the terminal takes at least 10 minutes, and to most piers, 15-20 minutes. From the inner runway, the process takes an average of 7-10 minutes. In short, while flight times to Istanbul may have been reduced due to shorter queues, the gains will be offset by longer taxi times. The situation will likely improve significantly in about a year, once another runway northeast of the terminal opens. Then, most passenger flights will be able to use the two runways closest to the terminal.
Disembarking from the plane. Paradoxically, those passengers whose planes in Istanbul are parked remotely (this is almost never the case at the new airport) or whose international flights arrive at the domestic pier will be in luck. In this case, passengers will be transported by bus directly to the center of the gigantic terminal—straight to passport control (for those traveling to Istanbul or the rest of Turkey) or security control (for those connecting to another international flight).
Those who disembark via jet bridge (the lion's share of passengers) are less fortunate. They must walk the same distance, albeit with some assistance from moving walkways and escalators. The only short distances are from gates C and E (but there are only eight of them, and large aircraft cannot be parked there). The situation is slightly better for passengers from gate D, which also doesn't handle large aircraft—their walk will be between 200 and 700 meters. However, most passengers must walk from piers A, B, and F, where wide-body aircraft and some narrow-body aircraft are parked. In the best-case scenario, they face a half-kilometer walk (for comparison, this is longer than the entire length of the boarding gallery at Vnukovo). In the worst-case scenario, the walk will be over a kilometer—much longer than from the Aeroexpress train to Sheremetyevo-3 (D). For those arriving on domestic flights (Gates G), the road to the exit into the city (or to the transfer point for an international flight) is also quite long – on average, about 700 meters.
Passengers who have difficulty walking such distances should arrange an escort through the airline in advance. In this case, a golf cart can be used to navigate the airport's long corridors.
Transfer to another flight. For transit passengers, this may only be halfway through their journey—after security checks in the central part of the terminal, they'll have to go back to one of the piers to catch their second plane. It's unclear why the new airport didn't install security checkpoints for transit passengers within the piers themselves, which would have saved many of them a kilometer or two of unnecessary running. The near-unanimous opinion of many visitors to the new building is that this was done solely to force transit passengers to pass through the shopping arcade in the center of the terminal.
Unfortunately, this trick significantly increases the time required for transfers and is unlikely to increase revenue in stores and cafes, as time that could otherwise be spent eating or shopping is eaten up by these forced trips around the terminal. Perhaps the base carrier, Turkish Airlines, which became a shareholder at the airport after its launch, will be able to facilitate the creation of additional security checkpoints for transfer passengers within the piers themselves.
To be fair, at the old Ataturk Airport, the journey from and to the outer gates could also be almost a kilometer long—but there, this was the exception, not the rule. At the new airport, the transfer process itself, even without security lines and any breaks in cafes and shops, will take on average half an hour (plus the time to disembark from the first plane and board the second). Security lines, incidentally, have indeed been reduced thanks to a significant increase in the number of security lines.
In other words, to have a good chance of catching your connecting flight, you shouldn't book a connection in Istanbul for less than two hours. And to enjoy this impressive terminal, it's best to allow at least three hours. The exception is arrivals from EU countries—these passengers skip the security check in Istanbul and proceed directly to the departures area. For them, the minimum connecting time is approximately an hour and a half, with a comfortable time of two hours or more.
Turkish Airlines transit passengers may want to consider options for a long layover or even a day or two's stopover in Istanbul. Many passengers with a long layover will receive a free Istanbul tour (if the layover is during the day), while those with a short layover will receive a free overnight stay in a city center hotel (available to passengers flying to a select, fairly extensive list of destinations).
Exit to the city. Passport control has also been noticeably sped up compared to the old airport, also due to the increased number of lanes. Afterwards, passengers enter a gigantic baggage claim area with dozens of baggage carousels—and if you're unlucky with the baggage carousel, you can easily run an extra half-kilometer to and from it.
Those not busy with luggage can visit the large Duty Free shops located nearby, offering a traditional and extensive selection of goods. Or take a look at the banners posted on the pillars with bus route descriptions from the airport.
Access to the public area is through the green or red customs corridors. The public arrivals area is a wide corridor about 550 meters long, dotted with offices of travel agencies, hotel booking services, and the like—and it's noticeably tidier than the old airport. A number of cafes of various sizes are also available. For some reason, the city's tourist office is only open from mid-morning until evening, even though tourists arrive 24/7 (it's useful outside of those hours, though—you can charge your phone there). However, the best part of the arrivals area is outside.
If you exit the terminal on the arrivals level, you'll find yourself in a small garden with small trees, lawns, benches, and other amenities. A little further on, you'll discover a view of the future garden city—curved paths leading to hotels, business centers, and other buildings still under construction. Of the future airport city, only the mosque is clearly visible right now; the rest is still just at foundation level. When you exit, remember that re-entry into the terminal, if required, requires entry through security, which is more stringent in Turkey than in Russia.
One hotel, however, is already operating in the terminal itself. Yotel, located on the departures level, has 451 ultra-compact rooms (a hundred of which are located beyond passport control, called YotelAir, and are primarily intended for transit passengers). Due to the lack of competition, prices are high: rooms in the public area start at €119, while those in the non-public area start at €151. There are no other hotels anywhere near the airport, and there likely won't be any for a couple of years.
Transport to the city. Transportation is where the new airport has a significant advantage over the old one, despite the temporary absence of a metro system, which won't open until 2020. However, transportation is somewhat hidden: only taxis are available on the arrivals level, and queues for them often reach over a hundred people. However, if the queue is short, a taxi can be a good option, especially for a group of people. A ride to the city center costs approximately 100-120 Turkish lira (15-18 euros), while travel to the Asian side of Istanbul is somewhat more expensive. The journey to the center takes about 40 minutes, and after that, everything depends on traffic conditions in the center itself. Despite the new airport's remoteness, many destinations in Istanbul are accessible faster from it than from the old one, thanks to wide and currently empty highways.
All other modes of transportation—scheduled and tourist buses, various shuttles and transfers, and private cars—are available underground (accessible both from inside the terminal and from the street). As you descend, you'll notice multi-level parking—approximately 18,000 covered parking spaces are located right next to the terminal, but they're hidden so they barely interfere with the building's views.
Those who decide to save money and travel by bus have a choice of 23 routes. Three of them—H2, H3, and H4—appear to be ordinary yellow city buses. However, in reality, they are all express buses with single stops and can often get you there almost as quickly as a taxi. They cost only 5.4 lira (0.8 euros), but their destinations are limited, and only one is relatively central—the 24-hour H2 bus goes to the Mecidiyekoy transport hub in the Şişli district. The other two yellow buses run less frequently, don't run at night, and only serve metro stations in areas quite remote from the center of Istanbul's European side.
The remaining twenty routes, from IST-1 to IST-20, are served by intercity buses with power outlets, internet access, and soft seats. These are also express buses, serving numerous areas of the city (5 routes to various parts of the central European half alone). The fare to the city center is 18 lira (2.7 euros), while other parts of the European half are cheaper, while the outlying parts of the Asian half and Sabiha Gokcen Airport cost 30 lira (4.5 euros). Daytime intervals on most lines are 15-30 minutes, while at night, they range from half an hour to two hours. It's worth noting that at the old airport, the metro only ran until midnight, the few buses ran until around 1:00 a.m., and most areas of the city had no direct connection to the airport at all.
The easiest way to pay on all buses is with the Istanbulkart, which also works on all other public transport and offers significant discounts compared to single tickets. You can buy or top up your Istanbulkart at the machines at bus departure platforms, including with a bank card. Route lists and prices are also available there.
A photo gallery of the arrivals level at Istanbul's new airport is available on Travel.ru's Facebook page. A test flight from the new airport will be published on Travel.ru in the coming days.
Source: travel.ru