The first steps of a trip are often taken directly at the airport: from finding the check-in counter or the boarding gate , to discovering luxurious stores. Something that stands out much more when it comes to a large airport like the one we present to you now. This is the largest airport in the world and all its curiosities
This is the largest airport in the world and all its curiosities
Technically speaking and if we refer to the extension it occupies, we have to say that the largest airport of all is King Fahd International Airport , in Dammam (also known as Ar-Dammam), Saudi Arabia, which covers 78,000 hectares (776 kilometers squares) which completed in 1990, was used by the United States Air Force during Operation Desert Storm and was opened for commercial use only in 1999.
However, recently, this airport has been overtaken by another. We are referring to the new Istanbul airport, with an annual traffic of 150 million passengers, expandable up to 200 million, and which despite its size was built in record time: only 5 years.
Istanbul’s new airport beats any other
About 35 km from the center of Istanbul, in the European part of the city , more than 31,000 people were hired to build the new Istanbul airport, all in record time. Once completed, it has become one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country’s history, worth more than $ 10.2 billion.
The airport is largely finished, if not for the lack of some details and improvements to be carried out over the next few years, for continued evolution. In fact, construction is expected to continue until 2028, with the aim essentially of building a true world-class “aerotropolis”, complete with offices, hotels, mosques, medical centers, exhibition spaces and conference centers.
And once it is fully completed, the new airport will contribute 4.89% of the national income per capita , in addition to providing 100,000 direct and 150,000 indirect hires. Its contribution to the tourism sector (over a period of more than 25 years) is estimated at around € 22.2 billion.
Its location, chosen by the Istanbul state authority, occupies 76.5 million square meters to the northwest of the city , partly replacing large swaths of forested areas (which in fact prompted complaints from environmentalists and farmers in the area) and making that since it was announced as a project it has been considered the largest airport in the world.
The other airports that stand out
The new Istanbul airport is the largest in the world, but the largest in Asia , on the other hand, is the one in Beijing , which is known as Beijing Capital International Airport that extends over 1480 hectares . It was opened in 1958. Currently, part of its traffic has been transferred to Beijing Daxing International Airport. It is not only the largest airport in Asia, but also the second busiest airport in the world with more than 101 million passengers a year (behind the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that only last year received and had in transit to 107.4 million passengers).
The largest in Africa is the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, which handled 21 million passengers in 2018, having a capacity for a transit of 28 million. It was originally called Jan Smuts International Airport and covers an area of 1,673 hectares . O Tambo also stands out for hosting the 33rd longest track.
In Australia , we have the Sydney Airport, which served 44,443,927 passengers in 2018 and extends over 891 hectares, while in Europe the famous London Heathrow Airport is the largest of all with 1214 hectares , and a passenger traffic that exceeds 80 million a year. In the United States, the largest airport of all is the aforementioned Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, which is not only the busiest in the world, but also the largest of all with 1902 acres.
Ranking of the busiest airports in Spain
And in Spain? In our country, and if we look at the number of passengers that pass through it, we have to say that it is the Barajas in Madrid , as we see in this list of the ranking of the most important airports in Spain 2019 by passenger volume:
- Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas: 61,734,037 (6.6%)
- Barcelona-El Prat JT: 52,686,314 (5.0%)
- Palma de Mallorca: 29,721,123 (2.2%)
- Malaga-Costa del Sol: 19,856,299 (4.4%)
- Alicante-Elche: 15,047,840 (7.6%)
- Gran Canaria: 13,261,405 (-2.3%)
- Tenerife-South: 11,168,506 (1.1%)
- Valencia: 8,539,403 (9.9%)
- Ibiza: 8,155,635 (0.6%)
- Seville: 7,544,473 (18.2%)
