Around 5.2 million passengers, including those on transit flights, traveled through Turkey's airports in January, the airport authority said Monday.

The figure dropped by 63% from the same month last year, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) said.

The number of domestic passengers slipped 57% to 3.4 million, while 1.8 million passengers took international flights, down 70% compared to the same period last year.

Turkish airports facilitated 73,734 flights and overflights last month, down from 145,000 planes in January 2020.

The DHMI report also said cargo traffic stood at 181,141 tons this January, while it was 274,943 tons in January 2020.

Istanbul Airport hosted 1.7 million international and domestic passengers and over 15,074 airplanes.

In 2020, Turkey's airports hosted a total of 82 million air passengers, with 61% fall compared to the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.