Turkish airports serve 140M+ air passengers in Jan-Aug

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's airports saw 140.1 million air passengers in the first eight months of this year, the country’s airport authority said on Friday.

The figure was down 2.6% from the same period in 2018, according to a statement by the State Airports Authority General Directorate (DHMI).

In January-August, the number of international passengers rose 9.7% on an annual basis to reach 72.2 million.

The number of domestic fliers totaled 67.7 million, marking a fall of 12.9% during the same period.

According to Friday's statement, Turkish airports served nearly 1.4 million planes, up 1% compared to the same period last year.

Air cargo traffic saw an annual decline of 15.6%, falling to 2.2 million tons in January-August.

The new Istanbul Airport -- whose first phase officially opened last October and took over air traffic from the former Ataturk Airport on April 6 -- was the most active, serving nearly 29 million of passengers as of end-August.

Airport in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya was the second-busiest in Turkey with 24.5 million passengers.

It was followed by Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport on the city's Anatolian side, which saw 23.5 million air passengers.