The opening ceremony of the first phase of one of the largest airports in the world took place on Monday with a number of world leaders attending the soft launch.

The ceremony on 29th October took place on a Turkish national holiday, Republic Day, this year commemorating the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.

Located on the shores of the Black Sea, the airport is expected to serve 90 million passengers annually in its first phase.

At its completion scheduled by 2023, the airport will occupy nearly 77 square kilometres (19,000 acres) and serve up to 200 million travellers a year with six runways. That's almost double the traffic at the world's biggest airport currently, Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson in the United States.

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The team at Green Motion Turkey are delighted with the arrival of the new airport, bringing even more visitors to their beautiful country. For more information on hiring a car in Istanbul or at Green Motion Turkey's 13 locations across the country, visit www.greenmotion.com.