Istanbul Atatürk Airport
TURKEY'S LARGEST AIRPORT


Atatürk, the airport where we arrived and departed, is the largest of Istanbul's two airports, it is also the largest airport in Turkey. It was named after president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the republic of Turkey. The airport is situated in Yesilköy in the far west outskirts of the city's European side, close to the lake Marmaris. The airport served 45 million visitors in 2012, making it the 14th busiest in the world in terms of international passenger traffic, and Europe's 6th busiest. The airport opened in 1924 and now has four terminals. It was named "airport of the year" in 2013. From the airport you can take the metro, like we did, or bus to the city center.
 
The control tower and our Turkish Airlines plane, an Airbus. In the distance you can see lake Marmaris.
 


Our plane and an Emirates plane
View towards the wealthy neighbourhood Yesilköy and the lake Marmaris, just outside the airport.   Turkish football team painted on plane
 
Overview of Atatürk's terminal 2.