Turkish airports host nearly 197M passengers in Jan-Nov

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish airports hosted nearly 197 million passengers on both domestic and international flights in January-November this year, the airport authority reported on Thursday.

The General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI) said the number of passengers passing through Turkish airports in the 11-month period climbed 9.7 percent on a yearly basis.

Official figures showed that 46.7 percent of the total passengers travelled on international flights.

Among 56 airports in the country, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport on the European side was the most active one with some 63 million passengers -- nearly 18 million passengers on domestic flights and 45 million passengers on international flights.

The second busiest airport was Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport on the city's Anatolian side with around 31.5 million passengers, marking a 9-percent hike over the same period.

The airports in in the Mediterranean holiday resort city of Antalya (30.7 million), the capital Ankara (15.6 million), and the Aegean province of Izmir with 12.5 million passengers followed Istanbul’s airports.

DHMI also said that total aircraft traffic in Turkish airspace -- including overflights -- surged 6 percent to reach 1.87 million flights, while a total of 3.54 million tons of freight -- baggage, cargo, mail -- was carried in the same period.