It may have seen a drop in visitors following a city centre bomb blast last month but Istanbul is steaming ahead with the construction of its new international airport, which will be one of the world’s biggest.

Istanbul New Airport will have six runways and be one of the largest transport hubs in Europe, serving 350 destinations and handling, eventually, up to 200 million passengers per year.

The airport, located an hour’s drive north-west of the city, is under construction but the “greatest project in the history of the Republic” is expected to open in 2018.

Check-in desks at the futuristic airport Credit: İGA

The terminal is expected to cover a huge 1.3million sqm, all under one roof, and represent Istanbul’s unique cultural and architectural heritage with motifs from Islamic art.

It will initially cater to 90 million passengers per year. By way of comparison, Heathrow saw around 73.4 million passengers in 2014, but this was across all of its terminals. Heathrow’s biggest terminal, T5, is 353,020 sqm.

A waterfall is imagined at one edge of the hall Credit: İGA

The world’s busiest airport currently is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which sees 94 million passengers through its terminals and will retain the title until Istanbul’s airport starts to move beyond its opening figures.

If you were to measure only international traffic however, Dubai International Airport is the world’s busiest, seeing 69,954,392 passengers in 2014, closely followed by Heathrow, which saw 68,091,095 passengers in the same year.

Beijing Capital International Airport followed, handling 86,130,390 people.

A design for the world's largest duty free area Credit: İGA

Those behind the Istanbul project have built the largest machinery park in Turkey with a €300 million (£234 million) investment. They plan to raise the capacity to 150 million passengers with additional terminals and runways in the project’s later phases.

They also hope to also create the biggest duty free zone in the world, with more than 400 national and international brands spread over 53,000 sqm.

The development will also be part of an “Airport City” that will incorporate office buildings, airport hotels, mosques, medical centres, trade fairs and conference centres.

Currently Istanbul has two airports, Ataturk, which handles around 45 million passengers a year, and Sabiha, which handles 15 million.

An airport tower Credit: İGA

Another large airport that has been scheduled is Mexico City International Airport, designed by Norman Foster for the Mexican capital. It will initially have capacity for 50 million passengers when it opens in 2020, increasing to 120 million when it is complete, although this might not be until 2062.

Other futuristic airports currently under construction include the Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport Terminal 3A, at south-west China's main airport and the new Jewel at Singapore’s Changi Airport.