Passengers through Turkish airports on rise in Sept.

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The number of passengers going through Turkish airports rose 11.4 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of this year.

Nearly 164 million people traveled through airports in Turkey between January and September, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority said on Friday.

The country's airport served 1.6 million planes during the same period.

In September, the number of air passengers reached 20.8 million, up 4.4 percent compared to the same month last year.

The number of international passengers climbed 12 percent to reach 10.9 million in September, while the number of passengers in Turkish airports taking domestic flights fell 2.7 percent to 9.9 million.

Cargo traffic was also on the rise, up 7.4 percent year-on-year to top 382.6 tons.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport remained Turkey's busiest airport with 6.1 million passengers in the month -- some 1.7 million passengers on domestic flights and nearly 4.4 million passengers on international flights.

Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Istanbul's main air hub on the Asian side, served 3 million air passengers in September, an annual increase of 4 percent.