Turkish airports welcomed 9.4 million passengers in February, according to data released by the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) on March 8.
The February figure was up 74 percent compared to the same month of last year, however, it was 73 percent less than the level recorded in February 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck Turkey’s air traffic.
The number of air passengers fell significantly globally due to COVID-19.
Some 5.22 million passengers took domestic flights, while 4.16 million took international flights last month.
Turkish airports served 105,990 aircraft in February, including 51,021 on domestic routes and 32,401 on international routes.
The authority also said air cargo traffic last month reached 235,581 tons, up 34 percent on domestic routes (51,670 tons) and 24.5 percent on international routes (183,911 tons).
Istanbul Airport, the mega-airport in Turkey’s largest metropolis, welcomed 3.6 million passengers on both international and domestic routes, serving over 26,204 airplanes in February.
In the first two months of this year, the number of air passengers through Turkish airports hit 18.7 million. Airports served 218,091 aircraft in January-February.
Flag carrier Turkish Airlines has reported that it posted a net income of $959 million last year, while total revenues reached $10.7 billion. Passenger revenues amounted to $6.4 billion in 2021 and revenues from cargo operations reached $4 billion.
It carried 20.1 million domestic and 24.6 million international passengers in 2021. In 2019, the carrier served 74.3 million people.
Hurriyet Daily News