Istanbul Airport Transit: Visa Rules and How Long to Allow (2026)
Istanbul airport transit visa rules as of October 2026: when you can stay airside without one, who needs an e-Visa, and how many hours to leave IST.
Airport serving Istanbul, İstanbul Province, Turkey.
Scheduled and expected times, terminals, gates and status at IST, from an hour ago to about eleven hours ahead, in local time. It loads when you ask for it.
| Time | Flight | Airline | Destination | Terminal | Gate | Status |
|---|
Source: AeroDataBox, updated about every ten minutes. For your gate, the airline's app and the airport screens have the final word.
We have route data for 1 airport so far, so this list is not complete.
Istanbul airport transit visa rules as of October 2026: when you can stay airside without one, who needs an e-Visa, and how many hours to leave IST.
Transit visa rules by hub, 2026: which airports let you connect airside without a visa, and why the US and Mexico have no sterile transit.
Istanbul Airport is about 34 km (21 miles) from the centre of Istanbul in a straight line. The trip by road is longer, and how long it takes depends on traffic and the transport you use.
Within 150 km of Istanbul Airport: Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW, 64 km), Tekirdağ Çorlu Airport (TEQ, 70 km) and Bursa Yenişehir Airport (YEI, 133 km).
Istanbul Airport is in the Europe/Istanbul time zone (worked out from the nearest city, so check locally near a time-zone border). The current local time is shown at the top of this page.