Istanbul Airport Guide: All Four Airports Explained

Here is the short version before we get into detail: as a visitor you will land at one of two airports, Istanbul Airport (IST) on the European side or Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) on the Asian side. The city actually has four airfields in total, but the other two no longer take passenger flights. If you book a ticket to Istanbul without checking which airport it lands at, you can end up two hours and a full city’s width away from your hotel. So it pays to know the difference before you fly.

There are plenty of good reasons to visit Istanbul, from the historical landmarks to the endless things to do across the city. The one thing nobody warns you about is the arrival. Istanbul is enormous and split across two continents, so the airport you choose shapes your whole first day. Let me walk you through all four, with the practical stuff that the official sites bury.

Which Istanbul airport should you fly into?

If your hotel is in Sultanahmet, Taksim, Karakoy, Besiktas or anywhere on the European side, aim for Istanbul Airport (IST). If you are staying on the Asian side, in Kadikoy or out toward the islands, Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) will save you a long, expensive crossing. Both are genuinely international, both are well run, and both connect to the city by metro now. The deciding factor is almost always which side of the Bosphorus you will sleep on.

1. Istanbul Airport (IST)

This is the big one. Istanbul Airport opened to all passenger services on 6 April 2019, and every commercial flight that used to run out of Ataturk Airport moved here overnight. It is the most recent of the city’s airports and easily the largest. Construction started back in 2014, and the scale of it still surprises first-time visitors: the main terminal is one of the biggest single airport buildings in the world.

The growth has been hard to overstate. In 2025, IST handled around 84 million passengers, which made it the busiest airport in Europe for the fourth year running, ahead of London Heathrow. On its peak days it pushes past 280,000 passengers and well over 1,700 flights, and iGA, the operator, lists more than 330 destinations from here. So if you are connecting through Istanbul on a long-haul route, this is very likely where you will be.

IST sits in the Arnavutkoy district, on the northern edge of the European side, and it is genuinely far from the centre. That distance is the one thing to plan around. Your options:

• M11 metro: the smart choice. The line runs from the airport to Gayrettepe and Kagithane, where you connect to the wider metro network. The airport-to-Gayrettepe leg takes about 30 minutes, and at the time of writing the fare is around 50 TL. It runs roughly 06:00 to midnight.
• HAVAIST buses: comfortable coaches to Taksim, Sultanahmet and other hubs, running 24 hours. Expect somewhere around 200 TL and 60 to 90 minutes depending on traffic.
• Taxi: the most expensive and least predictable. A yellow taxi to Taksim runs roughly 1,500 to 1,800 TL at the time of writing, more to Sultanahmet, and a lot more if traffic is bad. Always insist on the meter.

For a full breakdown of routes and timings, we have a dedicated piece on getting to the new Istanbul Airport, and a roundup of hotels near Istanbul Airport if you have an early flight and would rather sleep close by.

2. Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SAW)

Sabiha Gokcen is the second international gateway, and it sits on the Asian side of the city. It is older than IST, having opened on 8 January 2001, and for years it played second fiddle. That gap has closed fast. In 2025, SAW handled more than 48 million passengers, a jump of around 17 percent on the year before, so calling it the quiet alternative no longer really fits. It is a major airport in its own right, and many budget and short-haul carriers fly here.

The name honours Sabiha Gokcen, widely recognised as the world’s first female fighter pilot and one of Ataturk’s adopted daughters. It is a fitting name for the country’s busiest Asian-side hub.

Getting into town from SAW is straightforward:

• M4 metro: the line was extended to the airport in October 2022, and for anyone heading into the Asian side it is the cheapest and most reliable option. You ride toward Kadikoy and connect from there. The fare sits around 40 to 50 TL at the time of writing.
• HAVABUS coaches: direct services run across to Taksim on the European side and to Kadikoy, with the Taksim run costing roughly 440 TL.
• Taxi: fine for a short hop on the Asian side, but if you are crossing to the European side, the bridge traffic and fare add up quickly.

If you are weighing where to base yourself, our guides to hotels on the Asian side and the best area to stay in Istanbul are worth a read before you book a flight into the wrong airport for your plans.

3. Ataturk Airport, now a public park

Here is the big update if you have an older guidebook. If you visited Istanbul before 2019, you almost certainly landed at Ataturk Airport, on the European side. It was the main airport for decades. Its history runs back to 1912, when it began life as a military airfield under the name Yesilkoy, and at its peak in 2015 it served over 60 million passengers a year, making it one of the busiest airports on earth.

When IST opened, commercial flights stopped here, and the cargo operations followed in early 2022. What happened next is the part most people miss: the whole site has been turned into a park. The Ataturk Airport National Garden (Millet Bahcesi) officially opened on 1 November 2025 and is now one of the largest urban parks in Turkey, with more than a million square metres of greenery, tens of thousands of trees, ponds, cycling paths, sports courts and even a skate park laid out across the old runways. So you will not be flying into Ataturk Airport, but you can walk where the planes used to taxi. It has quietly joined the list of green spaces in the city.

4. Hezarfen Airfield

The fourth airfield is one you will only use if you are learning to fly. Hezarfen Airfield, out in the Catalca district on the far western edge of the city, has been operating since 1992 as a privately owned general-aviation and flight-training field. No commercial passenger flights, no terminals to speak of, just light aircraft and pilots in training.

The name comes from a legendary figure: Hezarfen Ahmed Celebi, the Ottoman aviator said to have flown across the Bosphorus on artificial wings in the 17th century. We tell that story in full in our post on the Galata Tower, which is where his flight is supposed to have started.

A few honest tips before you land

A couple of things I always tell first-time visitors. First, double-check your airport code on the ticket: IST and SAW are an hour and a half apart on a good day, and there is no quick shortcut between them. Second, do not panic about transport. The metro now reaches both passenger airports, it is cheap, and it dodges the traffic that taxis cannot. Buy an Istanbulkart at the station, top it up, and you are set.

For everything beyond the runway, our Istanbul travel tips and Istanbul taxi guide will keep you from the usual rookie mistakes. Land smart, and the rest of the city is yours.