Airports serve 118 million passengers in eight months

ANKARA

Passenger traffic at Türkiye’s airports increased by 57 percent in the first eight months of 2022 from a year ago to 118.4 million, according to data from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).

Domestic passenger traffic rose by 23 percent year-on-year to 52 million, while airports hosted 66.2 million international passengers in January-August, up more than 100 percent.

The highest increases were recorded at the airports that serve holiday destinations on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, reflecting the recovery in tourism activity, which has been recovering from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Muğla-Dalaman Airport, international passenger traffic leaped 303 percent compared with the same period of last year, and the increase at the airport in İzmir, the country’s third-largest city by population, was 150 percent year-on-year.

The airport in Antalya, a favorite tourist attraction among European and Russian holidaymakers, hosted 16.4 million international passengers, which marked an annual increase of 71 percent.

Istanbul Airport, the country’s largest, saw a robust 109 percent increase in international traffic to 30.5 million, while domestic passengers were up 68 percent to around 11 million.

Sabiha Gökçen Airport, also in Istanbul, served 9.7 million international travelers, up 107 percent, but the number of domestic passengers using the airport fell by 2 percent compared to the same period of 2021 to 10 million.

Air travel has nearly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, data showed.

Flight traffic at Türkiye’s airports was 98 percent in August 2019, while the passenger traffic was 94 percent in the same month of that year, Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu said.

In August alone, 8 million domestic and 13.8 million international travelers went through the airports, according to the minister.

“Total passenger traffic increased by 20.3 percent in August from a year ago, and cargo traffic went up 14 percent to 448,000 tons,” he said, noting that Istanbul Airport, one of the busiest in Europe, hosted 10,757 domestic and 30,800 international flights last month.

There is chaos in Europe’s airports while operations run smoothly at Turkish airports, Karaismailoğlu said.

Strikes by workers demanding higher pay and staff shortages in Europe cause delays and flight cancelations.