Nestled between the suburbian areas of Pendik and Kurtköy, on the Asian side of Istanbul, the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW) is a rather new airport developing faster with each passing year. The name was given to it in order to honor Sabiha Gökçen, who was the first woman to become a combat pilot in Turkey. Opened in 2001, when the Ataturk airport could no longer cope with the ever growing transport demands of international and domestic air traffic, the airport was at first not impressive in numbers. However, with the constant increase in passenger air transport in the city of Istanbul, the airport started taking on more and more flights, making stunning leaps in year-by-year percentage increase. With the capacity of the international terminal being three million passengers per year, while the one for domestic uses could support merely half a million, it was soon clear that changes would have to be made to the airport’s infrastructure to allow the developing progress to continue. The task was undertook by Limak Holding, GMR Group and Malaysia Airport Holding Berhad consortium, and after a year of work, in October 2009, the new terminal was opened, which now allowed for this airport to welcome 25 million passengers annually. Following the expansion, the airport received several important awards, domestic and international. At the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London, the Sabiha Gökçen International Airport received the award for the “World’s Best Airport in 2010”, and in the same year it was deemed Turkey’s “Most Successful Tourism investment”.

Regarding the features of the new terminal and the services available to passengers, it is worth noting that there is a car park with more than 4.700 places for vehicles and 70 more for buses spread over four floors. For those needing a rest, there is a hotel with 128 rooms, and you can enter it both from the ground and air sides. The conference center and food court for restaurants and cafes are also worth mentioning. If you have access to Wings lounges, LGM CİP Lounge, Turkish Airlines CİP Lounge, or the ClubFinance lounge, then you can spend your waiting time there.

Located about 35 kilometers southeast from the city centre, the airport is still easily reachable through various means of public and private transportation. If you are planning to get there by car, all you need to do is take the E-80 express highway, which goes through the Istanbul metropolitan area, or take the E-5 highway from the city centre and exit at the at the Pendik/Kurtköy sign. If you need to use public transportation to get to and from the airport, there are plenty of options to choose from. Firstly, there’s the option of taking a taxi, which is, of course, available 24h a day. The trip to the city centre can take anywhere from 40 minutes given good conditions, to up to 60 or even 90 minutes. If you’re looking for more comfort and a more pleasant journey at a similar price, you could check out the Private transfer service operated by Efendi travel, which wouldn’t cost much more than a cab.

The next options are the city’s bus or metro lines. Leaving the airport, you could take the E-10 bus line to get to the Kartal station, where you could transfer to the M4 Metro line, which can take you to Kadıköy ferry dock or to the Ayrılık Çeşmesi station where you can take the Marmaray to the European side of the city. The Marmaray is, naturally, the quicker way going under the Bosphorus, but the ferry ride is the more scenic route to take if you’re looking for an enjoyable means of transport. Also, both E-10 and E-11 bus lines can take you directly to Kadıköy ferry dock, where you can choose between taking a ferry or the metro. Another way to get to the Kadıköy ferry dock are the Havataş airport buses, which are more comfortable than the city’s bus lines and, of course, a bit more expensive. These buses leave every hour and half hour from 4am to 1am. The Havataş airport buses can also take you to Taksim Square, leaving also every 30 minutes from 3:30am to 1am. To get to Taksim Square you could also take the metro from the 4.Levent station, which is connected directly to the airport by the E-3 bus line. If you are not fond of these means of public transport, you can always use the rent-a-car service available to you at the airport.

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