Turkish airports serve almost 14 mln passengers

ANKARA

Turkey’s airports served a total of 13.93 million passengers in January, a slight 0.8 percent decline from a year ago, data from the airports authority (DHMİ) have shown.

The number of international passengers, who went through the country’s airports, jumped 12.1 percent on an annual basis to 6.13 million, while the domestic traveler tally declined by 9.1 percent to 7.8 million in the month.

Istanbul Airport, whose first phase officially opened in October 2018 and which took over air traffic from the former main Atatürk Airport on April 6, served 5.3 million passengers (4 million international and 1.3 million domestic).

With a full capacity of 200 million passengers annually after the completion of all four phases with six runways by 2028, Istanbul Airport is set to become a global aviation hub hosting more than 100 airlines and flights to over 300 destinations around the world.

DHMİ data also showed that a total of 2.94 million passengers used Sabiha Gökçen, the second largest airport in Istanbul, with the number of domestic passengers declining 3 percent on an annual basis to 1.72 million and international passengers rising 25 percent to 1.21 million.

Esenboğa Airport in the capital Ankara saw a 14 percent decline in passenger traffic to 1.05 million in the first month of 2020.

Passenger traffic at Adnan Menderes in İzmir, the country’s third-largest city and a popular holiday destination, declined 9 percent on an annual basis. International passengers soared 39 percent to 147,100, while domestic passengers dropped 15 percent to 741,000.

The number of air passengers in Turkey totaled 209 million in 2019, marking a 0.8 percent drop from the previous year.

The number of international passengers rose more than 11 percent to 109 million, while the number of domestic passengers fell 11.3 percent to 100 million.