It is looking increasingly likely that the opening will be gradual - a few flights from 1 November, just so that the Turks can save face and say that it opened on time, but not fully operational until sometime in 2019.

This article (lifted from a post in the TK forum) suggests they are gearing up to pile blame for the delayed opening on striking workers..

https://ahvalnews.com/third-airport/...yed-columnist#

I hope your sunny optimism doesn't come back to bite you :)

Are you aware of the muddle surrounding the "bus to the airport" business?

Tender for shuttle bus transfer services to new Istanbul airport canceled

Well it seems to me that we will know wiithin the next two weeks whether this happens or not. I suspect that this could be a trickle opening. I really couldn't care less except that we seem to have people that think that everything will be wonderful and I hope that they are right. However as Berlin is a farce that only the Berliners could create ( according to my Leipzig friends), it is hardly unsurprising that there is cynicism in the camp. So what if they are late? As long as people can get reasonable public transport into town (as is the case at Yselkoy/Attaturk ) then that will be fine for most. I am sure that loads of THY staff will be inconvenienced if they live near the current airport.as when Air france moved its main hub to Roissy (there was even an Air France captain who refused to land there and landed instead at ORY (may be apocryphal).

That "decent transport" is the rub with the Istanbul New Airport. A bus on the road is not "decent" in my view (and that of many others) because it can't provide high capacity, fast, predictable transport. They haven't put in the rail line when the airport opens and it is "in the future". Istanbul roads are not the greatest at the best of times (in particular, they are very busy).

So no, there will not be reasonable public transport "as is the case at ... Atatürk" and it will not be fine for most.

First trip there next month so I assume it'll definitely be into Ataturk.

I won't be taking the bus though - I hope work will sort me out a car.

Tips on stuff to see and do always appreciated.

You can take a car if you want, but from Ataturk to the center (Taksim, Sultanahmet, etc) I take the metro. It's as good as any in Europe (and certainly better than the Piccadilly Line). For Fatih locations, change cross-platform at Zeytinburnu. For Taksim you can do the same or change at Vezneciler. Metro map here: https://www.metro.istanbul/YolcuHizmetleri/AgHaritalari

Turkey is in the Europe destination forum on FT. I would always suggest a visit to the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, and the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque (mosque-appropriate attire is polite in the Mosque: sensible shirt and trousers for men, long sleeves, skirt or trousers, headscarf for women).

Relax, they will figure it out.

PM me what you like doing and i'll give you the tips.

Are you serious? I never once in many years took a train to Ataturk, always bus.

The likelihood of the new airport fully opening and operating at the end of October is practically ZERO, it will open, there will be a few flights there and that will be it. Part of the reason for this is that there are no suitable transport links available. As mentioned above, the bus tender has been cancelled. The train will not be ready for at least another two years, The authorities have strangely made an agreement with the current Taxi cooperative to operate only 660 taxis from the new airport, and not allowing non-airport taxis to make pickups, which disastrously will mean that no city taxi will want to make a trip out to the airport, which is way out of town and with nothing around it, as no taxi driver would want to go that distance and be forced to return empty, and lose much of his shift (currently at IST outside taxis are not supposed to make pick-ups, but this is often ignored when there are few airport taxis allowed) in any case currently a taxi driver has plenty of places to go to get business near the current airport. There is nothing for many kilometers around the new airport. In addition to all this, there has been a crackdown on ride sharing services, so that Careem seems to be dead and Uber has been under extreme pressure.

When you add all this to the fact that AFAIK the first landing test on runway two was only about 48 hours ago, and that no international body has yet approve anything at the new airport, not to mention that is has already been announced quite publicly that Cargo operations will not be ready at the new airport for at least a further six months, not to mention that TK cannot afford to get into a BKK situation (and privately TK has been advocating for more than a year to be allowed to move into the airport last), it just ain't happening. BUT, if there is a limited soft opening, with a few "non-connecting" flights, BA may in fact be forced into the "soft" operating airport...............

As for transport to the current airport, out of the literally thousands of times I have frequented the airport, I think I have used public transport maybe twice. The issue is not the quality, Istanbul trains etc are fine, the issue is where one has to go. Public transport in IST has traditionally been limited, and if it goes where you need then great, but often does not go everywhere (although its growing fast) and often requires multiple modes (i.e. a Train to a bus to a ferry to a Dolmus to a Taxi or whatever).