Turkish airports hosted nearly 197 million passengers on both domestic and international flights January-November this year, the airport authority reported yesterday.

The General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) said the number of passengers passing through Turkish airports in the 11-month period climbed 9.7 percent on a yearly basis.

Official figures showed that 46.7 percent of the total passengers traveled on international flights.

Of the 56 airports in the country, Istanbul's Atatürk Airport on the European side was the most active with some 63 million passengers – nearly 18 million passengers on domestic flights and 45 million passengers on international flights.

The second busiest airport was Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the city's Anatolian side with around 31.5 million passengers, marking a 9-percent hike over the same period.

Airports in the Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya (30.7 million), the capital Ankara (15.6 million) and the Aegean province of Izmir with 12.5 million passengers followed Istanbul's airports.