The opening of Istanbul’s new airport has been delayed again to 7 April, according to local media.
Newspaper Hurriyet reported on Monday that the airport’s March opening would be delayed again, though operator IGA has yet to officially announce the new date and the General Directorate of State Airport Authorities (DHMI) has not received details of the latest delay.
The US$12 billion project officially opened in October 2018, but only a few flights have been operating since then.
It was due to become fully operational in January, but this date was pushed back to 3 March.
Hurriyet now says the transfer of commercial flights from the existing Ataturk airport will begin at 0300 on 5 April and will take 45 hours to complete.
When it opens, Istanbul airport will be able to handle 90 million passengers a year but can be expanded in the future to accommodate up to 200 million, according to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.