Istanbul Atatürk Airport is the main airport of Turkey. It serves as a hub for AtlasGlobal, Onur Air and, most importantly, Turkish Airlines, which has the biggest share at the airport and serves numerous destinations worldwide. The airport is also used for cargo operations by cargo airlines such as Turkish Airlines Cargo, MNG Airlines, MyCargo Airlines and Qatar Airways Cargo. The airport was originally named Yeşilköy Airport. In the 1980s, it was renamed Istanbul Atatürk International Airport in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. It served more than 60 million passengers in 2015, making it the 11th-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic and the 10th-busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic. As of 2017, it is Europe's 5th-busiest airport after London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, having fallen from third place after a decline in passengers due to security fears.
- Total passengers: 63,727,448 (2017)
- International passengers: 44,277,101 (2017)
- Aircraft movements: 460,777 (2017)
- Cargo: 790,744 tonnes (2017)
The airspace of the Yeşilköy Approach/Radar Sector encompasses a large area around Istanbul up to FL240. It extends up to 80nm from the airport.
The Yeşilköy Approach/Radar Sector also controls arrivals and departures of Istanbul's secondary airport Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW | LTFJ).
The airport has 3 runways. The southeastern runway (05/23) is 2580m (8465ft) long. The other two runways (17R/35L; 17L/35R) are parallel but too close for independent simultaneous approaches. Atatürk Airport applies a "Preferential Runway System" (PRS) indicating the runway or runways that are considered by ATC to be the most suitable for take-off or landing, taking aircraft performance, surface wind speed and other components into consideration. During PRS operations the following runway configuration is usually used:
- Runway 05 for landing
- Runway 35L for take-off
This is also the configuration in use in openScope
Istanbul Atatürk Airport has a large quantity of SIDs and STARs, RNAV and non-RNAV. However, only the RNAV procedures are normally used. The procedure's suffix indicates the runway, the procedure is for.
SIDs:
| Runway | Suffix |
|---|---|
| 05 | P |
| 23 | V |
| 17L | R, T |
| 17R | S, U |
| 35L | Q, X, Y |
| 35R | E, N, Z |
STARs:
| Runway | Suffix |
|---|---|
| 05 | A |
| 17L/R | B |
| 23 | C |
| 35L/R | D |
The sim features a combination of these sectors:
| Yeşilköy Approach/Radar Sector | Frequencies | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| North | 121.100 MHz | 126.425 MHz | - |
| East | 120.700 MHz | 122.675 MHz | - |
| South | 120.500 MHz | - | - |
| West | 119.475 MHz | 121.250 MHz | 127.100 MHz |
| (Gökçen) | 127.825 MHz | - | - |
Istanbul New Airport is an international airport under construction in the Arnavutköy district on the European side of Istanbul, with the aim of replacing the current Istanbul Atatürk Airport, which has reached its capacity limits.
The construction of the airport began in May 2015 and its inauguration is scheduled for the 29th of October 2018, although delays are expected. Once the new airport commences operations, Istanbul Atatürk Airport will be closed down for scheduled passenger flights. The construction of the airport is set to take place in several stages, expanding the airport and its facilities over time. For the first stage, Istanbul New Airport will have a main terminal with a total passenger capacity of 90 million and 2 independent runways.
Once fully completed however, the airport will have a total of 6 runways and a capacity of 150 million passengers annually, expandable to 200 million.
Planned runways:
Runway 17L/35R, 3,750m (12,303ft)
Runway 17R/35L, 3,750m (12,303ft)
Runway 18L/36R, 3,750m (12,303ft)
Runway 18C/36C, 4,100m (13,451ft)
Runway 18R/36L, 3,750m (12,303ft)
Runway 09/27 , 3,750m (12,303ft)
34 km (21.2 mi) north of LTBA
Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is the secondary international airport of Istanbul.
It serves as the hub for Pegasus Airlines but is also used by Turkish Airlines and other airlines since the airport isn't as busy as Istanbul Atatürk Airport.
The departures and arrivals of LTFJ are also handled by Yeşilköy Approach/Radar
Runway 06/24, concrete, 3,000m (9,843ft)
43 km (26.7 mi) east of LTBA
Istanbul Hezarfen Airfield is a privately owned airport located in Çatalca district of Istanbul.
It is mainly used for general aviation.
Runway 05/23, asphalt, 681m (2,230ft)
26 km (16.3 mi) northwest of LTBA
Istanbul Samandıra Army Air Base is a military airport located in Kartal district of Istanbul.
The air base is used by the Turkish Army and is home to Army Regiment of the Turkish First Army.
Runway 04/22, concrete, 1,372m (4,500ft)
Runway 18/36, concrete, 764m (2,506ft)
34 km (21.2 mi) east of LTBA
Tekirdağ Çorlu Airport is a military as well as public airport in Çorlu. The airport is 10.5 km (6.5 mi) east of Çorlu.
Besides being used by the Turkish Army, there is only one passenger connection according to Wikipedia.
AnadoluJet serves a route between Çorlu and Ankara.
Runway 05/23, paved, 3,000m (9,843ft)
77 km (48.2 mi) west of LTBA
Yenişehir Airport is an airport in the city of Yenişehir in the Bursa Province of Turkey.
There are a couple of domestic connections served by AnadoluJet.
Runway 07R/25L, concrete, 2,993m (9,818ft)
Runway 07L/25R, concrete, 2,993m (9,818ft)
102 km (63.9 mi) southwest of LTBA
VATSIM Charts
Additional information can be found in the European AIS Database (requires a free registration)
Or the Turkish AIP (requires a subscription)