International Travel During Covid-19

Flying during a pandemic sounds stressful, but I actually felt very safe while traveling. I flew Turkish Airlines from Chicago to Istanbul, Turkey and then to Belgrade, Serbia. On each flight, the airline provided a “hygiene kit” containing multiple face masks, wipes and hand sanitizer. Passengers had to wear masks throughout the entire flight and meals were staggered so rows of passengers would have their face masks off at different times to eat.

The Istanbul Airport

Deemed one of the largest and most modern airports in the world, the Istanbul Airport (IST, IGA) opened in 2018 and has one of the biggest duty-free shopping areas. By 2025, the airport will be able to handle up to 200 million passengers annually, which will make it the largest airport worldwide in terms of passenger traffic.

Three things I noticed at the Istanbul Airport, that were different from Chicago O’Hare:

The WiFi kiosks, located all around the airport and pictured above, offer one hour of free internet but require you to put in your mobile or passport number to access it. You are then given a one-time password, which you can print off at the kiosk, to get WiFi on your device.

There are a lot of trees and greenery around the airport. This may be a nod to the 13 million trees that were cut down to construct the airport and the North Marmara Highway, which provides access to the airport. Some Turkish citizens opposed this airport project because it destroyed over 18,000 acres of Istanbul forests and wetlands.

They assign flight gates relatively close to boarding time, so passengers waiting for their flight and gate assignment mill about the airport and its numerous common areas. Perhaps this is to encourage passengers to spend money at the numerous duty-free shops?