Turkish Airlines operates second most flights in Europe

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines (THY) ranked second among air carriers in Europe with 568 out of a total of 14,170 flights on July 15, according to Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol.

Irish budget airline Rynair took the lead with 866 flights on the same day, while Hungary’s Wizz Air ranked third with 499 flights. Air France, which ran 443 flights, and Germany’s Lufthansa, operating 403 flights, followed them.

The number of flights across Europe was nearly down 60 percent compared to the same day in 2019 due to the travel restrictions imposed after the spread of the coronavirus outbreak around the region since February.

“Narrow-body airliners accounted for 6,724 [47.3 percent] of yesterday’s flights, reflecting the predominantly intra-European nature of flights currently across the Eurocontrol network,” said the agency’s director general, Eamonn Brennan, on his official Twitter account.

Top three airports by number of flights were Paris Charles de Gaulle, with 655, Amsterdam Schipol, with 533, and Frankfurt Main, with 511, according to Europol data.

“Hosting 421 flights on July 15, Istanbul Airport was placed fourth among the busiest airports in Europe,” said Turkey’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (SHGM) in a statement.

Athens’s Eleftherios Venizelos Airport followed Istanbul with 403 flights.