Türkiye boasts largest civil aviation flight network in the world

By Merve Ozlem Cakir

ANKARA (AA) – By boosting its flight network from 60 points in 50 countries in 2003 to 342 points in 130 countries today, Türkiye became the country with the largest civil aviation flight network in the world, the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister said.

Türkiye has the potential to become the world's transit hub and it has been making powerful aviation efforts since 2002, Adil Karaismailoglu told Anadolu Agency.

Thanks to its investments in aviation and regulations in this field, Türkiye showed a growth performance above the world average, he added.

He said: "We have assumed a leading role in Eurasia with effective, active, and planned investments carried out in aviation policy for 20 years."

Over the same period, the number of airports more than doubled from 26 to 57.

In November alone, air traffic in Türkiye jumped 16.2% to 147,937 aircraft on a yearly basis, he said, and in the month, 13.56 million passengers were served by the country, up 21.4%, Karaismailoglu noted.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul