Turkish air passenger traffic soars in 2017       

ANKARA

The number of passengers passing through Turkish airports increased by 11 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to the Transport Ministry.

Turkish airports served more than 193 million people last year, data compiled by state-run Anadolu Agency showed on Jan. 6.

The number of international passengers jumped 17 percent year-on-year to reach nearly 83.5 million in 2017.

Around 109.6 million people took domestic flights, marking an increase of almost 7 percent during the same period.

Turkish airports served 1.5 million planes, rising 3.2 percent compared to 2016.

The total amount of air cargo in November 2017 also saw an increase of 10 percent to reach 3.4 million tons.

Turkey’s busiest airports were Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport and Sabiha Gökçen with total 95.1 million passengers in 2017, up from 90 million previous year, according to the country’s General Directorate of State Airports Authority.

Atatürk Airport served over 63.7 million passengers last year, while more than 31 million people passed through Sabiha Gökçen Airport last year.