Istanbul Airport has started implementing a triple independent runway system. Turkey became the first country in Europe to implement this practice.

A new era of simultaneous triple independent runway operation has begun at Istanbul Airport. Three planes belonging to Turkish Airlines took off from the same area. Thus, Turkey became the first country in Europe to implement the triple independent runway operation practiced in the United States. With the new system, Istanbul Airport will now be able to handle 3 planes landing and taking off simultaneously. Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said that the implementation has elevated Turkey’s vision beyond its borders.

Uraloğlu expressed that Istanbul Airport has risen to the top tier of global aviation. Minister Uraloğlu mentioned that with the triple independent runway operation, the traffic flow at Istanbul Airport will accelerate, and its dynamic capacity will increase.

Providing information about the construction phase of the project, Uraloğlu said, “We laid the foundations of the project in the last quarter of 2022. Each stage was carried out with meticulous planning. We initiated a comprehensive safety analysis study for the triple simultaneous runway operations to become feasible in our country. The studies were completed in December 2024. The real-time simulation, which started on January 27 for testing in a simulation environment, was completed on April 15.”

Istanbul Airport, which is located as the busiest airport in Europe, had an average of 1,326 flights daily between March 17-23.