World

Turkey Set To Unveil What Could Be The World's Largest Airport

When the airport is fully complete in ten years, it's expected to be able to serve up to 200 million people and cover nearly 19,000 acres of land.

Turkey Set To Unveil What Could Be The World's Largest Airport
İGA Airport Operation Inc.
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Turkey's set to unveil what could eventually be the world's largest airport on Monday. 

For now, it's called the Istanbul New Airport, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to announce its official name later on.

Though Monday's unveiling is mainly a ceremonial launch, when the airport is fully complete in ten years, it's expected to be able to serve nearly 200 million people a year and cover up to 19,000 acres of land. 

For comparison, The Associated Press reports that's almost twice the traffic of the current largest airport in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. 

The first flights out of the airport are expected to take off days after the unveiling, but the full move from Istanbul's main international airport won't happen until the end of December. 

Erdogan set a deadline of Monday for the unveiling, and getting there wasn't easy. Some 36,000 workers have had to scramble to make the airport as ready as possible for Monday's launch. They've also recently protested poor working conditions and a number of deaths that have taken place during construction.

Erdogan is set to be at the airport's official opening.