ANKARA
Turkish Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday that the tender for a third airport to be constructed in Istanbul would be held on May 3, 2013.
The new airport will be built in a build-operate-transfer model and the winning bidder would have operating rights of the airport for 25 years, he said.
Yildirim said that they expected the construction of the airport to be completed within 42 months, stating that 120,000 people would be employed in the third airport.
The transportation minister said the new airport was estimated to cost more than 7 billion euros.
Yildirim said, "the third airport will be the largest one in the world in terms of passenger capacity."
The new airport would have a total passenger capacity of 150 million per year, he said.
Istanbul has two airports, Ataturk on the European side and Sabiha Gokcen on the Asian side of the city.
The new airport is planned to be built along the Black Sea coast of the city's European side.
