New mega-Istanbul airport hosts 5.2M passengers in May

ISTANBUL

The new mega-Istanbul Airport hosted 5.2 million passengers in May, a 10.5% increase compared to the first quarter of this year.

The airport welcomed 4.7 million passengers and 29,492 planes in the January-April period.

The total number of flights increased by 21% compared to the first quarter of this year.

The airport hosted nearly 10 million passengers in the first five months of the year. Nearly 75% of total passengers – over 7.4 million -- travelled on international flights, while domestic traffic was recorded at nearly 2.5 million during the same period.

The first phase of the new mega-Istanbul Airport officially opened last fall and took over air traffic from the former main Ataturk Airport on April 6.

With a full capacity of 200 million passengers annually after the completion of all four phases with six runways by 2028, Istanbul Airport is set to become a global aviation hub hosting more than 100 airlines and flights to over 300 destinations around the world.

Ataturk Airport had previously been the busiest airport in the country, serving 115,435 planes and 16 million passengers in the same period.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz