Turkey’s colossal new €7bn airport will open to the public this weekend after months of delays and a labour protest over poor working conditions. It’s one of president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s key infrastructure projects and a vital element of the country’s ambition to turn itself into a global aviation hub.
The airport will initially have a capacity of 90 million passengers but the government says that this could double by 2027. That would put Turkish Airlines in a much better position to challenge regional heavyweights Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways; already the flagship carrier has plans to add another 138 planes to its fleet. A successful launch could help Erdogan in the short term too, by deflecting attention from his ruling alliance’s poor showing at local elections last weekend.
Source: https://monocle.com/minute/2019/04/05/ / Cover image: Getty images
