By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) - The number of passengers going through Turkish airports decreased 3.3% on an annual basis in the first half of this year, the country’s air travel authority announced Friday.
Nearly 95 million people traveled through airports in Turkey from January to June, according to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI).
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% to reach 45.2 million during the same period.
Nearly 50 million passengers took domestic flights between January and June, falling 12% on a yearly basis.
Cargo traffic also posted an annual drop of 13% 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 Ataturk Airport on April 6 -- hosted nearly 16 million passengers as of the June-end, 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 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.
With a full capacity of 200 million passengers annually after the completion of all four phases with six runways by 2028, Istanbul Airport is set to become a global aviation hub hosting more than 100 airlines and flights to over 300 destinations around the world.