Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport - Spotting Guide

Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport – Spotting Guide

February 1, 2013 - last modified on December 7, 2023

Izmir is not really a known airport for planes spotting. But the city is growing rapidly and with it the airport as well. At the moment, SunExpress & Pegasus are responsible for the most traffic here. During the summer some charter flights are offered by a dozen of carriers. Widebodies are a rare sight and single aisle aircraft dominating the traffic. The airport was renewed in 2014 and the pax capacity was increased to 30 mio. In 2018 the airport welcomed 13,4 Mio. passengers. To the southeast of the Airport, there is a military security zone which belongs to Coast Guard and Air Force. There is the Gaziemir Air Base northeast of the airport. We recommend to avoid the area along the fence of the base.

The traffic at ADB is busy between late April and early October. Turkish Airlines, Anadolujet, Atlas Global, Onur Air, Pegasus Airlines, EasyJet, Olympic Airways, Azerbaijan Airlines, Buta Airways, Aer Lingus, Thomas Cook, Belavia, Ural Airlines, Corendon, Qatar, Iran Air, Qeshm Air, Eurowings, Jet2, Aegean, Tui Fly, Lufthansa, ArkeFly…

Written by Julian Mittnacht, Sebastian Sowa and Ömür Sadıkoğlu / Last Update June 2019

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
16L/34R	3.000 m (9.843 ft)
16R/34L	3.000 m (9.843 ft)
Terminals	Splitted in between International and Domestic
Spotting Information
Ladder	Not needed and not recommend to use as security is difficult here along the fence!
Car/Public Transport	Car is only needed for #4. But if you want a car, you can rent one for around 20-25$ per day from one of the international rent a car companies within the airport.
Restrooms	Inside a big supermarket next to spot #1 (tagged on the map) and the Shell Gas Station, 400m away Spot #2
Drinks/Food	Big supermarket next to spot #1 with some fast food restaurants (tagged on the map)
Hotels	Orty Airport Hotel at the exit of the airport. TAV Airport Hotel inside the airport and DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel İzmir Airport on Sarnıç village road, 400m to spot#1
Season	More charterflights during the summer season and due to north/south directon of the runways better to go there so.
Security	There is a military base next to the airport, northeast of it. Be careful if you are in that area, especially if you try to take photos along Atatürk Cd.
Runway Usage
16R/34L	Used as taxiway.
16L/34R	Only active runway and used in both directions.

	Spot #1 – Sarnıç Station – 16L arrivals
WHERE	This spot is a couple of meters away from the Sarnıç train station. You can easily access via the lightrail system named İzban. You will need 12 Turkish Liras for the 3-round ticket (approx. 2$) Use the Southern Line to get there. If you use a car follow the signs towards the airport, exit the main road and follow the signs to Izmir Sarnıç Yolu. There is a go-cart track ext to the spot at the corner. Park your car along the road. Go-cart staff are spotter friendly. You can ask for permission to take photos from inside the facility and to use the restrooms. You can also buy drinks there.

WHAT	Best spot for 16L arrivals.

TIME	Good from afternoon until evening.

MISC.	Be very careful!! The Gaziemir Air Base is just next to you. All the photos taken from the go-cart area must be skyshots. Do not include the military zone in your shots. Stay at this spot and you won’t be bothered. Don’t walk more eastwards along the street for better light conditions in the morning as you will reach the base entrance soon. All necessary faclities are inside a supermarket just next to the train station (tagged on the map).

FOCAL LENGTH	70-200 mm

	Spot #2 – Cumaovası Station – 34R arrivals
WHERE	Use the Southern Line again to get to the Cumaovasi station. Before noon, walk through the #901 street toward the İsabey Bağ Evi restaurant and use any spot you like close to Menderes-İzmir-Aydın road to take photos. In the afternoon you can walk to spot#2 to the west of the station. If you have a car, pass the airport and follow the signs to Aydin. After you have passed the rails, make a right turn into the 901SK (google maps) and park your car along the road. In the afternoon follw the #901 street toward the station, pass the subway crossing and after 250 meters turn right to the dirt road, 200 meters later you can park under the trees and take photos until sunset.

WHAT	In the morning you are very close and almost under the aircraft. I wouldn’t stay at the main road as the military area is pretty close.

TIME	Two spots that cover the whole day.

MISC.	You are pretty far away from any necessary facility. There are just some farmers around you. Be polite and you won’t get bothered.

FOCAL LENGTH	50-230 mm

Morning side:

Afternoon side:

	Spot #3 – Terminal – All movements
WHERE	Once you have your boarding pass and you are airside, you have a good view of the ramp with a nice background for your photos from the terminal (international and domestic). You have to take the photos trough glass, but for aircrafts directly in front of you this works quite good. It is better go to one of the restaurants/cafés/lounges as from those areas you can take photos directly trough the glass. It is recommended to take photos from Tadında Anadolu restaurant/cafe at the domestic lines airside. From the boarding gates and all other areas there is a closed area between you and the glass.

WHAT	All traffic in front of the terminal and runway.

TIME	Good from afternoon until sunset

MISC.	Everything needed can be found inside the terminal.

FOCAL LENGTH	50-300 mm

	Spot #4 – Hill – All movements
WHERE	The location itself is next to a small park on a meadow. To get there just continue on Atatürk Cd (spot1) and drive all the way down through a small village. When you see a mosque to your left turn right and you should see the park. Leave your care here and walk for 2 minutes through the park to the location. You are on a hill and you can watch down to the airport.

WHAT	As you are in the middle of the runway all landing and takeoff rolls.

TIME	in summer session (june to september) you need to take photos from sunrise to 9:30 A.M because heat haze is coming up. Colder months you can catch the traffic from sunrise until to mid day

MISC.	Keep low profile! Don’t go to any other place as there are observation towers and watchman 24/7 which will see you. In this case they call the police and they check your ID and they dont allow photographing. And if someone wants to control you, please dont resist them.

FOCAL LENGTH	A320 = 250mm on runway; B738 = 400mm on taxiway