Financial Times columnist praises Istanbul Ataturk Airport, slams heathrow

A columnist for British daily The Financial Times yesterday criticized Heathrow Airport as "a disgrace" while praising Ataturk Airport, saying, "To fly from Istanbul to London is to travel from the first to the third world." "Ataturk international airport sparkles with steel and glass modernity – a monument to Turkey's status as a rising power, wrote columnist Philip Stephens. "Heathrow's Terminal 3, scarred by broken travelators, exposed ceiling voids and filthy carpeting, has become an emblem of national decline." He added, "For the world's rising states, international airports – and indeed their national airlines (Turkish Airlines beats BA [British Airways] hands down on the Istanbul route) – are a statement of modernity. They speak both to national pride and to integration in the global economy."