Passengers at Turkish airports near pre-COVID-19 level

The density at the Turkish airports is nearing the level prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the country’s transport and infrastructure minister Adil Karaismailoğlu.

He said that the number of air passengers leaped nearly 187% year-over-year in May alone to 15.86 million.

The January-May figure has topped 57 million, including 28.57 million passengers on domestic and 28.41 million on international flights, Karaismailoğlu noted.

The figure exceeded 30 million and 33.7 million served in 2021 and 2020, overshadowed by the travel restrictions to stem the spread of the COVID-19. But it still lagged 74.2 million passengers that traveled through Turkish airports from January through May of 2019.

The traffic on domestic and international flights increased 54.7% and 161.4%, respectively, this January-May period from a year ago, Karaismailoğlu said, for a total increase of 94.5%.

The gleaming glass-and-steel structure along the Black Sea coast, Istanbul Airport alone has served 21.54 million passengers in the first five months. It can handle 90 million passengers a year in the current phase, which, while it is a high figure, is nothing compared to its potential capacity to serve 200 million after the completion of all phases, making it the world’s largest.

Karismailoğlu said the passenger traffic that came to a near standstill during the pandemic, has considerably approached the level of 2019. “Last month, we reached 93% of passenger traffic of 2019,” the minister said.

The May figure included more than 7.2 million passengers served on domestic and over 8.6 million on international flights. The traffic marked 134.1% and 253.6% increases compared to a year ago, respectively.

The freight traffic also surged and exceeded that of 2019, Karismailoğlu added, reaching 338,107 tons, an increase of nearly 50% from a year ago.

The airports in Turkey’s tourism centers served more than 11.3 million passengers in the first five months, as the industry rebounded from the fallout of the outbreak.

The figure was spearheaded by Antalya Airport with 6.3 million, Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport with 3.23 million and Muğla Dalaman Airport with 817,248, Karaismailoğlu said.

The minister said Turkey does not have a long way to go when it comes to catching up with the passenger and plane traffic prior to the pandemic.

Turkish airports served more than 128.3 million passengers in 2021, a 57% increase from the 81.7 million recorded in 2020, according to State Airports Authority General Directorate (DHMI) data.

Karismailoğlu also stressed increasing support for the industry, citing the recent openings of Tokat and Rize-Artvin airports, pushing the total number of airports in Turkey to 57.