Istanbul
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Istanbul Airport (IATA: IST) is the larger of the two international airports serving Istanbul, Turkey. The airport is in Arnavutköy, on Istanbul's European side, and serves as the main hub of Turkish Airlines. It is the largest airport in Turkey and, according to Wikipedia, the largest privately operated airport in the world.
Condé Nast Traveller (UK) readers voted Istanbul the No. 1 airport in the world in the Readers' Choice Awards 2026, with a score of 94.29, after placing it No. 2 in 2025. Travel + Leisure readers ranked it No. 1 among international airports in 2025 — for the second year running, with a score of 98.57 — and No. 3 in 2026. Readers quoted by the magazine praised its "light and airy design" and good signage. Skytrax placed it No. 8 in the World's Top 100 Airports 2026, up from No. 14 in 2025.
The airport opened in October 2018, and on 6 April 2019 all scheduled passenger flights moved there from Atatürk Airport, together with the IST code. The old airport could not grow because it was hemmed in by the city and the Sea of Marmara, so the new one was built on a large site near Lake Terkos, north of the centre. In 2025 it handled more than 84 million passengers, which made it the second-busiest airport in Europe after Heathrow, and it has regular flights to up to 122 countries.
Sources of this text: Wikipedia · Condé Nast Traveller (UK) · Travel + Leisure · Skytrax
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