On April 6, Istanbul Ataturk Airport — which was considered one of the busiest airports in the world with 70 million annual passengers — officially ceased operations. All commercial flights were transferred to Turkey's new flagship international airport, which means Istanbul New Airport is open for business.

The first flight at Istanbul New Airport took place October 2018, and now the airport's first phase of construction, which includes three runways and 15 million square feet of terminal space, is finished. There are four phases to be completed by 2025, with a total cost of about $12 billion.

The new airport covers 76 million square meters (more than 818 million square feet or 18,780 acres) and can currently handle 90 million passengers a year in phase one. When the entire airport is completed, it will be able to handle 200 million passengers a year. That will make it the world's biggest airport by passenger traffic. In comparison, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, currently the world's busiest airport, handles 107 million passengers a year.