Atatürk  Airport is located just outside Istanbul and it is the first biggest airport of Turkey .
The airport has many international and domestic flights. Ataturk Airport is located on the European side of the city (Yesilkoy ) and very close to the old city center  (Sultanahmet, Eminönü, Aksaray, Beyazıt and Grand Bazaar),which isabout 15 km. Ataturk International Airport (IATA: IST, ICAO: LTBA), and formally called  Yesilköy Airport, is the international airport on the European side of Istanbul. In Turkey the first air transport launched in the early 1900s, Atatürk Airport opened in 1953 for international air traffic. On 29th July 1985 its name was amended and the airport was named afterthe surname given to the Republic of Turkey s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: Ataturk International Airport.

According to statistics in 2009, Istanbul Ataturk Airport had a total number of 30 million passengers,, making it among the world’s top 40 international Airports on account of the overall passenger traffic. In terms of international passenger traffic, Istanbul Airport was ranked the 20th busiest across the globe. In Europe it is ranked as the ninth busiest airport. 

The airport faces some capacity problems ranking at the moment between the 30th and 40th positions in terms of passenger and cargo traffic. Based on the 2009 stats, it handles more than 825,000 tons of freight, cargo and mail, as well as more than the said 30 million passengers. Per year Istanbul Airport has a rated 14 million capacity of international passengers and about 10 million of domestic ones.