The airport is located northeast of Ankara, 28 km (17 mi) from the city center. The airport is connected with Kızılay (the city center) and Ankara Intercity Bus Terminal by EGO city bus number 442 (from 6 am to 11pm). Transportation to the city center is also by taxi (around TRY 90 one way, metered) and through the Havaş bus line (approximately TRY 12,5 one way). The road between Esenboğa airport and the Ankara ring road was expanded during the summer of 2006, decreasing the driving time between the city center and the airport by several minutes.

The name of the airport comes from the village of Esenboğa, which literally means “Windflowing Bull” or “Serene Bull”, the modernized form of Isen Buqa, the name of a Turkic warlord in the army of Timur who settled his troops here during the Battle of Ankara in 1402.

Esenboğa International Airport was awarded as the best airport in Europe by ACI Europe (Airport Council International) and the award presented to airport officials on 17 June 2009 in Manchester. The award is given in 4 categories every year and Esenboğa was in 5–10 million per annum category. It is the first time an ACI award was granted to a Turkish Airport. According to ACI-Europe, “As with number of the top candidates in this category, the airport excels in all the keys areas of operations, however the judges singled it out for its work in the area of environmental innovation, securing an incredible 25% energy savings stemming from its recycling of exhaust gases to power its air conditioning plants.” In 2020, Esenboğa Airport was awarded as the best European airport with a capacity of 15 – 25 million passengers by Airports Council International.

A new parallel runway is under construction to the east of the terminal building. Upon the completion, the current runway 03R/21L will be resigned as 03C/21C and the new runway will receive the latter’s former designation.