The new Istanbul Airport, which contains structural sections manufactured by British Steel, has been officially opened. Istanbul airport covers 76.5 million square metres and contains 640,000 tonnes of steel. Richard Farnsworth, British Steel’s Managing Director for Construction, said “This is a phenomenal project, the scale of which is awe-inspiring. We were delighted to be invited to supply our sections into the airport so it’s exciting to see it open. We’ve an excellent track record of supplying into projects of this nature and we’re proud to be helping connect millions more passengers as they travel across the world.”

The facility, which is destined to become the biggest airport in the world, can currently handle 90 million passengers. However, by the end of the year, when the project has been completed and services transfer from Ataturk International Airport, this figure is set to soar to 200 million passengers. It will have the best baggage handling system in the world to minimise waiting times with its 42 kilometre-long baggage system having the capacity to handle 10,800 pieces of luggage. To enhance the passenger experience, the airport will have stores covering more than 55,000 square metres and a food court covering 32,000 square metres. And in seven years’ time it’s expected the airport will employ 225,000 people, directly and indirectly.

British Steel has previously supplied structural sections, manufactured in Scunthorpe and Teesside, into other major airport projects including Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and Muscat International Airport in Oman.