The number of passengers traveling through Turkish airports, including direct transits, reached 210.2 million as of the end of the year, recording an increase of 8.6 percent compared to the previous year, the Transport and Infrastructure Minister Cahit Turhan said yesterday.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency (AA), Minister Turhan revealed the 2018 statistics for passenger, aircraft, and air cargo traffic prepared by the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).

Accordingly, the aircraft traffic passing through Turkish Airports in December stood at 62,128 in domestic lines and 40,978 in international lines, with overflights reaching 38,603, Turhan said.

Reporting that total aircraft traffic served at Turkish airports in December reached 141,709 including overflights, Turhan said the number of domestic passengers travelling through Turkish airports in this period reached some 8 million while international passenger traffic was recorded as 5.5 million, thus totaling 13.5 million, including direct transits.

Turhan further explained that the air freight traffic (cargo, mail and baggage) reached 59,550 tons in domestic lines and 223,810 tons in international lines as of December.

Regarding the December data of the previous year, Turkish airports served 893,223 aircraft on domestic flights and 649,553 in international flights, while the overflight traffic was set at 474,987, Turhan noted.

He stressed the total aircraft traffic served at Turkish airports, including overflights, rose by 5.4 percent to 2 million last year.

Explaining that the domestic passenger traffic at Turkish airports was recorded as 112.8 million, followed by 97.2 million international passengers, Turhan said the total number of passengers using Turkish airports in 2018, including direct transits, surged by 8.6 percent to 210.2 million. Meanwhile he said the freight traffic stood at 915,790 tons on domestic flights and 2.9 million tons on international flights, totaling 3.8 million tons with an increase of 9.8 percent compared to the previous year.

Recalling that scheduled flights at Istanbul Airport, which was inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Oct. 29 and launched flights on Oct. 31, Turhan said between Oct. 31 and December 2018, Istanbul's new airport served 65,124 domestic passengers with 487 planes and 30,206 passengers with 231 aircraft.

Turhan also stated Istanbul Airport, which will be the world's largest airport when completed, served a total of 95,330 passengers with 718 aircraft in this period, highlighting that the number of passengers using the airport has so far reached 111,371.