A EUROPEAN airport is taking off on an ambitious expansion plan, vowing to increase passenger capacity to 200million a year.

It’s a massive spike on current levels, where it welcomes 90million travellers annually – and it’d make the airport the world’s biggest.

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Istanbul Airport is embarking on a four-phase expansion, with the second step to earmarked for completion by the end of 2025.

That’s when capacity is expected to increase to 120million, before skyrocketing towards 200million by the end of 2028.

The bumper plan includes six new runways.

The aviation hub opened its doors to travellers in October 2018, becoming fully operational by April 2019.

The airport’s location attracts huge amounts of passengers because it offers a gateway to Europe one way and the Middle East and Asia on the other.

It has been growing quickly since its inception.

In 2023, it served 76million passengers, a big jump on the 52.75million that hit its tarmac in 2019.

Now the operator of the airport IGA wants to send it into the stratosphere.

Chief executive Selahattin Bilgen declared: “Once all phases are completed, the capacity will reach 200 million passengers.

“The investments for the second phase started last summer, and when completed by the end of 2025, the capacity will increase to 120 million.”

In an interview with CNBC, he said the airport was now leading the way for Europe.

He said: “Istanbul Airport is breaking records in European aviation.

“About 80% of our passengers are international, and half of these are transfer passengers, contributing directly to our economy through their foreign exchange expenditures.”

But the airport chief added that the airport wants more passengers choosing Turkey as their destination, rather than using it as a transit point – with passengers from China coming loaded with deep pockets.

Bilgen said: “These passengers typically spend more than European travellers, averaging $50 per person in just a few hours.

“One of our objectives is to increase the number of these passengers who choose Turkey as their destination rather than just a transfer point.”

In another ambitious ploy, the airport is hoping to introduce “triple parallel operation” – where three planes can take off or land at the same time.

That is yet to be seen in Europe, with trials earmarked for later in the year.

Bilgen said: “We only see this in the US. It’s difficult to give an exact date for the three runways, but this is a major prestige for both Istanbul and Turkey.”

The airport in January edged London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Charles De Gaulle as the busiest in Europe, according to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation.

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