The number of passengers served at airports in Türkiye in the first five months of the year has approached 85.5 million, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said on Saturday.
Evaluating the air traffic data from the general directorate of the State Airports Authority (DHMI), Uraloğlu provided information on aircraft, passenger and cargo data for May, as well as for the period between January and May.
Accordingly, the minister reported that the total number of passengers, including transit ones, reached 85.42 million in five months.
“During this period, when domestic passenger traffic at airports across Türkiye was 37.26 million and international passenger traffic was 48.09 million, a total of 85.42 million passengers were served, including direct transit passengers, (thus) approaching 85.5 million passengers," Uraloğlu said in a written statement.
He said that in the January-May period, the number of aircraft landing and taking off at the airports was 365,145 on domestic lines and 318,618 on international lines, and 910,988 aircraft when overflights were included.
Uraloğlu also stated that the total aircraft traffic served during the said period, including overflights, increased by 6.5% compared to the same period last year.
In May alone, some 8.48 million passengers traveled on domestic routes and 12.68 million on international ones, according to the minister.
Noting that a total of 21.17 million passengers traveled, including direct transit passengers, Uraloğlu further said: “There was a 3.7% increase in total passenger traffic, including direct transit, compared to the same month of the previous year."
Moreover, he said that the total amount of cargo transported in the month in question reached 437,863 tons. In five months, this figure reached nearly 1.87 million tons, he noted, including some 329,668 tons in domestic lines and 1.54 million tons in international lines.
The minister also informed that in May, the plane traffic at Istanbul Airport, one of Türkiye's mega projects, reached 46,556 in total, with 10,596 in domestic flights and 35,960 in international flights. Uraloğlu also noted that Istanbul Airport served a total of 6.96 million individuals last month.
At the same time, he said that in January-May, the airport handled some 212,978 planes, with 46,257 of them in domestic flights and 166,721 in international flights.
Looking at passenger figures over the same period, he said that Istanbul Airport served close to 6.39 million passengers domestically and some 25.51 million on international routes, for a cumulative of nearly 31.9 million.
Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, situated on Istanbul's Asian side, on the other hand, saw passenger volume surpassing 18 million in five months. The airport served some 7.75 million people on domestic routes and close to 10.3 million on international ones, respectively.
Like this it was revealed that two airports in Istanbul served close to 50 million passengers in the first five months of the year, which accounted for nearly 60% of total traffic.
Furthermore, Uraloğlu noted that the number of passengers served at airports in tourism centers reached a total of 16.33 million in five months.
“In the five-month period, 4.36 million passengers were served at Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport, 9.57 million at Antalya Airport, and 1.21 million at Muğla Dalaman Airport. While a total of 918,020 passengers were served at Muğla Milas-Bodrum Airport, a total of 274,781 passenger traffic was realized at Gazipaşa Alanya Airport," he said.
