Istanbul Airport (IATA: IST, ICAO: LTFM) is the more prominent of the two international airports that cater to Istanbul, Turkey. It is situated in the Arnavutkoy area on the city’s European side at the intersection of roads to Arnavutköy, Göktürk, and Çatalca, north of central Istanbul and between the Black Sea coast towns of Yeniköy, Tayakadın and Akpınar. The area is a 7,600-hectare region near Lake Terkos. Some 6,172 hectares of this area was state-owned forest. It is Turkey’s largest airport and the second most crowded airport in Europe. On 6 April 2019, all planned commercial passenger flights were moved from Ataturk Airport to Istanbul Airport following the closure of Ataturk Airport for these flights. The IATA airport code IST was likewise assigned to the new airport.

In 2023, it accommodated over 76 million passengers, ranking as the 2nd-busiest airport in Europe for that year, following Heathrow Airport, and the 2nd-busiest in the Middle East, coming after Dubai International Airport. Additionally, it was the 7th-busiest airport globally in 2023 based on total passenger numbers, and by facilitating more than 58 million international travelers, it became the 6th-busiest airport in the world regarding international passenger volume, according to ACI World traffic statistics. It caters to 122 countries and acts as the central point for Turkish Airlines. The distance between Istanbul Airport and sabiha gokcen airport is approximately 83.2 km. 52 min via Kuzey Marmara Otoyol/O-7.