Your guide to Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport!
Some information: Airport Elevation: 312ft in meters 95m, IATA: SAW, ICAO: LTFJ
History
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is one of the biggest airports in Turkiye and serves the asian side of Istanbul in the city district of Pendik. Named after the first air force pilot under Kemal Atatürk’s command, the airport now features two parallel runways, two terminals, with one Terminal 3 coming very soon on the midfield apron. It’s a hub for the two biggest low-cost carriers, Pegasus and AJet and at the same time serves a variety of other diverse international carriers such as Kam Air, Qatar Airways and Air Asia X.
The airport has been brought to 3D with fully functional jetbridges, over a few dozen available stands, a new second parallel runway with full ILS compatibility and of course, an airport modelled with the available tools we have in our scenery editor to match the IRL counterpart.
The airport in Infinite Flight
Runway Information
| RUNWAY | LENGTH | ILS Equipped |
|---|---|---|
| 06L-24R | 2,991m-(9,843ft) | YES |
| 06R-24L | 3,539m-(11,614ft) | YES |
Terminal information
Main terminal
As seen in the pictures above, the terminal of Sabiha Gökçen International Airport consists of two separate buildings that serve all flights. With a new IRL connecting airbridge between the two terminals and some renovations to the GAV terminal, connecting flights from the terminals are done in a few minutes of walking. The airbridge will come as soon as available scenery and good high-quality imagery are available.
The airport has a lot of remote stands too on the midfield sections, with spaces up to category F aircrafts (only on the midfield section, not the old section). AJet and Pegasus have their aircrafts stored on the midfield aprons for maintenance and storage; in short, there is space for anyone! In the future, there will come a new Terminal 3 that will be built into the terrain and over the under-runway tunnel connecting Kurtkoy and Pendik
Image of the proposed final render of Terminal 3 at SAW
The airport features a lot of hangars on the midfield apron. Being home to Turkish Technics SAW Facility, MyTechnic, with Pegasus Technics three new state-of-the-art hangars were built and inaugurated at the start of 2026. AJet, Turkish Airlines are the main users of Turkish Technics, but they have partnerships with a lot of various airlines, such as Transavia, EasyJet, Ryanair, where these airlines are sending aircrafts needing maintenance to this facility.
The airport features a lot of MARS stands, so utilise them accordingly to maximise ramp/stand usage
As always, what I would like to recommend to pilots: Respect the MARS…
At the same time, when we reworked this airport, we thought of the upcoming aircraft releases and additions/additions like the A21N, A20N, and the B789. They are important aircraft at this airport, and this will likely boost flights to and from this airport.
A crucial thing is when spawning in a narrowbody aircraft at the new terminal or any other airport in this instance, if you’re using an Airbus A320Ceo/Neo family or Boeing B737NG/MAX family or any other narrowbody family, please and please use the dedicated category C stands! Don’t use unnecessary space by spawning inside a class E stand, as there has to be available parkings for widebodies.
A visualisation on how parking should be done at MARS stands
*As a class C aircraft, please don’t occupy the widebody stand (in red), please utilise the class C gate/stands (in blue).
One more thing to add, the runway and taxi movement chart! This is really helpful for ATC to guide the pilot in command of an aircraft safely on the ground!
The airport has a dual-runway system in place. It’s one runway for takeoff and one runway for arrival, maximising runway use and for noise abatement reasons. In any configuration, Runway 06R/24L is used for arrivals only and 06L/24R for departures only. The airport features fully functional Drag & Taxi and Pushback for ATC to utilise at their convenience.
I hope this guide serves as guidance for those pilots and ATC controllers who wish to maximise realism and real-world procedures at Sabiha Gökçen!
