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The overall number of travelers using Turkish airports, including direct transit passengers, climbed by 56.9 percent year on year, reaching around 118.6 million in Jan-Aug 2022, Yeni Shafak reports, citing Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu.

In his written statement on aviation statistics, Karaismailoglu underlined that the number of aircraft landing and taking off at airports in August was 78,161 for domestic flights and 86,589 for foreign ones.

According to the minister, with a total of 202,556 flights (including overflights) the aircraft traffic increased by 12.5 percent compared to August 2021. With these figures, Karaismailoglu said that passenger traffic, which had decreased drastically globally and in Turkiye during the Covid-19 pandemic, is nearly back to the pre-pandemic level in August 2022 when compared to the same month of 2019.

He added that 94 percent of all passenger traffic in 2019 was accomplished in August 2022.

The minister stressed that domestic passenger traffic has topped 8 million, while international passenger traffic has surpassed 13.7 million.

"We served over 21.9 million people last month, including direct transit passengers. In comparison to the same month of the previous year, total passenger traffic climbed by 20.3 percent. In addition, freight traffic grew by 14 percent, reaching 448,201 tons," Karaismailoglu elaborated.

He said that in August, aircraft traffic at Istanbul Airport was 41,574, including 10,757 on domestic flights and 30,817 on international. Istanbul Airport, one of Europe's busiest airports, served a total of 6.8 million, 1.7 million on domestic flights and 5.9 million on international flights.

Karaismailoglu added that there was a rise in passenger and aircraft traffic from January to August of 2022.

"During the eight-month period, the aircraft traffic amounted to 520,313 on domestic routes and 456,071 on international routes. Thus, a total of 1.2 million aircraft traffic was reached with the overflights. In the January-August period, air traffic increased by 37.8 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic passenger traffic totaled 52.1 million, while overseas passenger traffic totaled 66.1 million. During this time, our airports serviced a total of 118.6 million people, including direct transit passengers. The overall passenger traffic increased by 56.9 percent and the freight traffic reached 2.6 million tons in total during the mentioned period,” the minister said.

Karaismailoglu pointed out that Istanbul Airport handled a total of 273,687 aircraft traffic (72,363 on domestic lines and 201,324 on international lines), as well as 41.1 million passenger traffic (10.6 million on domestic lines and 30.4 million on international lines) during the eight-month period.

He also touched upon the mobility of the airports in the tourism centers.

“From January to August, Antalya Airport served over 20.4 million passengers, including 4.1 million on domestic flights and 16.4 million on foreign flights. Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport hosted 6.5 million passengers, Mugla Dalaman Airport 3.1 million, and Mugla Milas-Bodrum Airport 2.7 million. A total of 490,546 passengers were transported via Gazipasa Alanya Airport,” Karaismailoglu emphasized.

The minister emphasized that Turkiye benefits from the assistance provided to the aviation sector during the pandemic period. He recalled that the AK Party has made significant investments in the aviation sector, as it did in every other sector since coming to power.

"We raised the number of airports from 26 to 57 when we came to power. The Istanbul Airport, which we constructed on worthless grounds, was one of the world's most appreciated constructions. Despite all unwarranted criticism, we achieved the most significant achievements in the republic's history. We will continue to work hard in order to attain many more accomplishments,” Karaismailoglu stressed.

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