Turkish airports see nearly 1.4B passengers in 10 years

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

A total of 1.381 billion people passed through Turkish airports over the past decade, according to a data of Turkey’s General Directorate of State Airports Authority.

During the last 10-year period -- 2008 to 2017 -- the number of passengers climbs over China's population, which is 1.378 billion.

Since 2010, Turkey's air passenger traffic has been surpassing the 100 million level annually.

Turkey saw 193.3 million air passengers last year and 43.12 million in the first quarter of 2018, while these figures were 79.4 million in 2008.

In the last decade, among Turkey's airports, Istanbul's Ataturk Airport ranked first with around 466.5 million passengers, followed by Mediterranean resort city Antalya's Airport with 237.1 million passengers.

Istanbul's other airport Sabiha Gokcen, the capital Ankara's Esenboga Airport and Aegean city Izmir's Adnan Menderes Airport were placed in the top 5 with 180.1 million, 100.3 million and 95.3 million passengers, respectively.

Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen Airports were ranked the first and the second among Europe's fastest-growing airports, respectively, according to the Airports Council International Europe's data. Antalya Airport also placed in the list as the fourth.

Istanbul's new airport, which is expected to open this year, has the potential to welcome 90 million passengers annually. Following the second phase of construction in 2023, it is predicted that this number would rise to around 200 million.

Meanwhile, Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines, which flies over 300 destinations all around the world, carried nearly 70 million domestic and international passengers last year.