# İstanbul Airport (IST)

> Arnavutköy, Istanbul, TR · IATA: IST · ICAO: LTFM · Large Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `IST` |
| ICAO | `LTFM` |
| City | Arnavutköy, Istanbul |
| Country | TR |
| Type | Large Airport |
| Elevation | 99 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| Cargo Rank | #1 |
| GPS | 41.26130, 28.74195 |

## Description

Turkish Cargo, MNG Airlines, DHL Express, FedEx, UPS and the postal operator PTT all run operations from the roughly 2 million m² cargo zone at Istanbul Airport (IST/LTFM), the largest air freight site in Türkiye. The airport opened in 2018 at Arnavutköy, north-west of the city, and handled around 2 million tonnes of cargo in 2024 — more than any other European airport, having climbed from 47th to 17th place worldwide since 2019. Volume is split between belly cargo on Turkish Airlines' wide-body passenger network and a dedicated freighter fleet; since February 2022 both flows have been consolidated at SMARTIST, Turkish Cargo's purpose-built terminal with about 2.2 million tonnes of annual capacity. Ground handling and warehousing are provided by Havas and Çelebi Aviation alongside the carriers' own facilities. Customs clearance is served on site by four free warehouses and an agency building housing more than 100 customs brokers and forwarding offices. Inland distribution is road-based: road feeder services link IST with the Marmara industrial belt, Bursa and Izmit, while trucking corridors reach into South-East Europe. Realistic alternatives when capacity is tight are Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) on the Asian side of the city and Ankara Esenboga (ESB). Turkish Cargo has since begun SMARTIST 2.0, an expansion intended to lift annual capacity to 4.5 million tonnes by 2028 and add a dedicated e-commerce facility.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/istanbul-airport-ist](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/istanbul-airport-ist)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/istanbul-airport-ist](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/istanbul-airport-ist)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/istanbul-airport-ist/llm-summary*