Istanbul Airport ranks second among the airports with the "most connectivity" in the world, its operator IGA said in a statement Thursday.
The statement was based on “The World's Most Connected Airports” list of Cirium, which carries out research on the aviation sector.
German flag carrier Lufthansa's main hub in Germany, Frankfurt Airport, was at the top of the list with connections to 330 destinations.
IGA Istanbul Airport, by providing transportation to 309 destinations, followed Frankfurt Airport in second place.
Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, meanwhile, ranked third with flights to 308 destinations.
According to the list, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is the fourth, Chicago O'Hare Airport from the U.S. is the fifth, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport is the sixth, UAE’s Dubai International Airport is the seventh, the U.K.’s Heathrow Airport in London is the eighth, Fiumicino International Airport in Rome, the capital of Italy, was the ninth, while Denver Airport in the U.S. was the 10th airport.
Istanbul Airport, the gleaming glass-and-steel structure along the Black Sea coast, has managed to turn into one of the most important transit centers in aviation since it was officially declared open in late October 2018, before becoming fully operational in April 2019.
It reflected the emergence of Istanbul, Europe’s largest city straddling Europe and Asia, as a major regional transport hub.
Istanbul Airport can handle 90 million passengers a year in the current phase, which, while a high figure, is nothing compared to its potential capacity to serve 200 million after the completion of all phases, making it the world’s largest.
All four phases of the airport’s construction and expansion, including six runways, are expected to be completed by 2028.
