AI) is the international airport serving the Turkish province of Antalya. The airport receives millions of domestic and foreign tourists who come to the southern coasts of Turkey, especially in the summer months. The structure, which is the 14th busiest airport in Europe in terms of passenger traffic according to 2018 data from Airports Council International (ACI), is the second busiest in Turkey after Istanbul Airport, according to end-December 2019 data from DHMI.

The airport was originally built for military use. The airport, where Turkish Airlines first started operating its scheduled flights in a small cabin and in a 300 square meter terminal building since 1960, was opened to international traffic in 1985. Parallel to the developments in domestic and international tourism, Bayındır Holding started the construction of the first terminal International Airport in July 1996 and the terminal was commissioned in April 1998. This terminal is the first airport terminal in Turkey where the build-operate-transfer model is applied. In 1999, Fraport bought fifty percent of the terminal’s operation from Bayindir Holdings, the operator of the international terminal, for 25 million euros.

Bids were submitted for the construction and operation of the second international terminal by DHMI to manage the intensive international passenger traffic in the region, the Çelebi Holding-IC Holding consortium, which won the tender, began construction in May 2004 and began operating the terminal in April 2005. The Çelebi-IC consortium operated the station until September 2009, when the contract expired. Both international stations are included in the list of 50 Works in 50 Years for the Chamber of Civil Engineers.

The airport was awarded “Best Airport in Europe” in the “10-25 million passengers” category in 2011 by Airports Council International.