Construction of the terminal of Istanbul's third airport has started, General Directorate of State Airports Authority General Diresctor Serdar Hüseyin Yıldırım said late Friday in a meeting with journalists in Istanbul. Yıldırım dismissed allegations that the construction of the third airport was halted, and said that only an urgent expropriation decision for the lands falling on the east-west axis landing strip had been overruled by the Council of State. He said that through the decision of the Council of State, a perception campaign has been launched in the media as if the whole project was halted. The first plane is scheduled to land in the first quarter of 2018, Yıldırım said, and construction is currently ongoing in line with the schedule. When all phases are completed, Istanbul's third airport will be the world's largest airport with an annual capacity of 150 million passengers.