On 29 October 2018,His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew attended the opening of the Istanbul New Airport,which is replacing the Ataturk Airport as the Turkish capital's main airport.Patriarch Bartholomew was invited to the ceremony by President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.He was accompanied by the Chief Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,Archimandrite Joachim (Billis).
Earlier in the year,Patriarch Bartholomew had a long sought-after private audience with Mr.Erdogan at the presidential palace in Istanbul.At that time,the leader of the Orthodox Christian world presented a list of requests for the Turkish authorities to consider.*
The new airport will be phased into operation,starting with just a handful of Turkish Airlines flights to destinations within Turkey and Northern Cyprus.This will dramatically increase by full completion in 2028,when up to 200 million passengers a year will be served by the gargantuan enterprise,which is more than double the traffic at the current largest airport in the world,Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.*
In his address,President Erdogan emphasised that the airport will become a hub,not only for the region,but the world.
Besides Patriarch Bartholomew,the event was attended by dignitaries such as the Emir of Qatar,Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani,and President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir.There were also officials from Albania;the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;Moldova;Pakistan;and Serbia at the gala occasion.
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