The number of passengers traveling by air in Turkey reached 94.8 million in the January-June period, the country's air travel authority announced Friday.

The figure decreased 3.3 percent on an annual basis, according to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).

Turkish airports served almost 941,000 planes - including overflights in the first six months of this year, marginally lower from the same period last year. The number of international flight passengers climbed 9 percent to reach 45.2 million during the same period. Nearly 50 million passengers took domestic flights between January and June, falling 12 percent on a yearly basis. Cargo traffic also posted an annual drop of 13 percent in the first half.

The new mega Istanbul Airport whose first phase officially opened on Oct. 29 and took over air traffic from the former Atatürk Airport on April 6 has hosted nearly 16 million passengers as of the end of June, some 4.2 million passengers on domestic flights and nearly 11.8 million passengers on international flights. Separately, according to the IGA consortium, the contractor and operator of the project, Istanbul Airport served a flight every 74 seconds during the almost three-month-period, with an average passenger number of 160 per flight.

Plane traffic by the end of June stood at 103,667 in Istanbul Airport, according to the DHMI.