Türkiye's air passenger target for this year has been raised to nearly 259 million, led by strong demand, particularly on the domestic routes, according to a report on Sunday.
The number of passengers carried in the country is expected to reach about 258.7 million, according to information obtained by Anadolu Agency (AA) from the forecasts report prepared by the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI).
DHMI, which operates under the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry, has revised targets for key aviation indicators such as passengers, aircraft numbers, alongside figures on domestic and international routes, the AA report showed.
Under the updated forecast, the number of air passengers in Türkiye, including direct transit passengers, is expected to reach 258.66 million year, which would be up around 4.6% from 247.18 million passengers recorded last year.
Previous estimates had put the figure at 249 million passengers.
At the same time, passenger traffic is projected to rise further to 271.74 million next year.
According to the data, the number of international passengers, which stood at 145.2 million last year, is expected to increase by 3.6% this year to surpass 150 million.
Moreover, international passenger traffic is forecast to reach 156.85 million in 2027.
Meanwhile, domestic passenger numbers are projected to show a stronger increase this year, with expectations that they will climb by 6.1% to 107.77 million, up from 101.57 million in 2025.
Similarly, domestic passenger traffic is expected to continue an upward momentum with figures of around 114.4 million in 2027.
Aircraft traffic, including overflight operations, is also expected to rise from around 2.51 million in 2025 to nearly 2.53 million this year. It is forecast to increase further to almost 2.7 million next year.
Domestic flight traffic is expected to reach 1.04 million in 2026, while international flight traffic is projected at 973,717.
The number of overflights, which stood at 583,314 last year, is, meanwhile, expected to decline to 511,586 this year before rising to 583,838 next year.
Cargo traffic at airports across Türkiye, which totaled 5.38 million tons last year, is expected to increase to 5.43 million tons this year and reach 5.64 million tons in 2027.
In the first half of the year, Türkiye served over 1.1 million flights, recent data from DHMI showed.
The momentum in air traffic is expected to continue with the planned commissioning of new airports and investments in the infrastructure.
Turkish airspace has also been favored amid tensions in the Middle East, and Turkish flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) has also seen a positive performance this year so far.
In January-May, the total number of passengers carried by THY increased by 7.3% to 36.4 million compared to the same period of 2025, according to the company.
