Following the transfer of Atatürk Airport to Istanbul Airport, which was dubbed the "Great Move" and was completed on April 6, a total of 4.11 million passengers traveled from Turkey's newest airport, according to a statement made Friday by the airport's operator IGA.
While 2.09 million of those passengers arrived in the airport, 2.01 of them were departure passengers. A total 13,233 flights landed in the airport's arrival terminals and 13,287 flights took off from Istanbul Airport.
In the same period, the amount of baggage processed rose over to 3 million in total.
The number of arriving passengers' baggage was recorded at 970,622 while it was 2.03 million for outgoing passengers. Once all stages are completed, Istanbul Airport will be the world's biggest international airport, covering 76.5 million square meters. The "world's new hub" officially opened on Oct. 29, 2018, the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic.
The grand opening ceremony was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish ministers, officials and heads of state from around the world.
It can handle 90 million passengers a year in the current phase of development, which is, although a high figure, nothing compared to its potential capacity to serve 200 million after completion of all phases.