Foreign companies have begun to take note of Istanbul’s third airport project as the Schiphol Group, which operates Amsterdam Airport, expresses its interest, daily Milliyet reported.

A tender for a third airport in Istanbul with an estimated annual passenger capacity of 150 million will be held May. 3, Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım announced on Jan. 23 as he explained the project in a press conference. As details emerged, the curiosity of local and foreign companies rapidly increased, with Dutch airport operator Schipol Group as the frontrunner among the foreign names. TAV Airports, who operate Istanbul Atatürk airport, partnering with Aeroports de Paris (ADP) and Limak, operator of the second Istanbul airport, Sabiha Gökçen, are among the companies that have expressed interest in operation rights to the new airport. AIC Group, which owns Turkish airline company Atlasjet, has also been clearing the decks to bid for the project with a consortium including Italian design company One Works and investment firm TRKMW, Hurriyet Daily News report.