British Steel supplies world’s busiest airport

The new Istanbul Airport, which is expected to become the world’s busiest airport, handling close to 200 million passengers a year, and contains structural sections from British Steel has been officially opened.

Richard Farnsworth, British Steel’s Managing Director for Construction said: “This is a phenomenal project, the scale of which is awe-inspiring.

“We were delighted to be invited to supply our sections into the airport so it’s exciting to see it open.

“We’ve an excellent track record of supplying into projects of this nature and we’re proud to be helping connect millions more passengers as they travel across the world.”

British Steel has previously supplied structural sections – manufactured in Scunthorpe and Teesside – into other major airport projects including Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and Muscat International Airport in Oman.

This latest development in Istanbul covers 76.5M/m² and contains 640,000t of steel – enough to build 80 Eiffel Towers.

Technology is at the heart of the project with the airport utilising robots, artificial intelligence and facial recognition. The airport claims it will have the best baggage handling system in the world to minimise waiting times with its 42km-long baggage system having the capacity to handle 10,800 pieces of luggage every day.

To enhance the passenger experience, the airport will have stores covering more than 55,000m² and a food court covering 32,000m².