Turkish airports have served nearly 32.9 million passengers in January and February this year, including direct transit travelers, up 7.7% compared to the same period last year, according to Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu on Saturday.
Citing figures from the State Airports Authority (DHMI), Uraloğlu said domestic passenger traffic reached 15.26 million in the first two months, while international traffic stood at 17.59 million.
Combined with transit passengers, the total number of travelers served across the country’s airports reached 32.87 million, he informed.
"When compared to the passenger traffic served at the end of February with the same period in 2025, there was a 7.7% increase in total passenger traffic, including direct transit," the minister said.
In the first two months of 2026, some 133,559 flights operated on domestic routes and 115,767 on international routes, according to the data. Including overflights, total traffic reached 338,175, marking a 4.1% surge on a yearly basis.
In February alone, the number of aircraft landing and taking off at airports in the country was 65,188 for domestic flights and 53,018 for international flights, thus bringing the total aircraft traffic to 159,097, including overflights. Uraloğlu suggested that compared to the same month last year, there was a 6.8% increase in total aircraft traffic, including overflights.
Türkiye's largest airport, Istanbul Airport, remained the busiest hub, welcoming 12.77 million passengers in the January-February period. Some 2.49 million were domestic travelers and more than 10.27 million flew on international routes, according to Uraloğlu.
Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side of Istanbul, meanwhile, served 7.91 million passengers over the same period. Domestic traffic accounted for 3.3 million, while international passengers stood at 4.61 million.
Airports in popular tourism hubs across the country hosted 4.14 million passengers in total, including 2.64 million on domestic flights and around 1.5 million on international routes, said Uraloğlu.
