İstanbul Atatürk Airport could become convention hub

As İstanbul prepares to enter the race to build the world’s largest airport northwest of the city, state airport officials are not ruling out the possibility of converting the city’s current hub airport, İstanbul Atatürk Airport, into a convention center.
Atatürk, Turkey’s largest airport, could be transformed into an international convention center after the planned new airport is built, State Airports Management General Directorate (DHMİ) Director General Orhan Birdal told reporters over the weekend.
“The airport sits on a large area and there are examples of aviation exhibition centers of this size in different parts of the world. … Why not use İstanbul Atatürk Airport for such a purpose? It is possible,” Birdal said in İstanbul on Saturday. The Ministry of Transportation recently rejected rumors that İstanbul Atatürk Airport could be transformed into a convention center at the end of 2016, when the new, larger airport is set to become operational.
“Following the opening of the third airport in İstanbul, there will be no more scheduled flights to Atatürk,” said Birdal. His comments are in opposition to the statements of the Ministry of Transportation claiming that Atatürk will remain operational as an airport.
More passengers passed through İstanbul Atatürk Airport in 2012 than in any other year, reaching 41 million people, up from 37 million in 2011.