Türkiye's Airports Served 230.2 Million Passengers in 2024
The airports of Türkiye saw a major landmark in the year 2024, catering to a total of 230.2 million travelers including direct transit passengers. This is 7.5% higher than the previous year, according to Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.
Domestic and International Travel Growth
In a written statement made by Minister Uraloğlu, domestic flights reportedly transported 95.3 million passengers, whereas international flights were 134.7 million.
For the month of December 2024, passenger traffic for domestic movements was estimated to be 7.08 million while for international flights the figure was 8.47 million. In addition to transit passengers, 15.56 million passengers used Türkiye’s airports in December; up 8.2% from the corresponding period of 2023.
Aircraft Operations and Cargo Traffic
Another significant increase was observed in the aircraft traffic. Preliminary data showed that domestic flight movements reached 902,078 while international flight movements reached 866,779. With overflights, total aircraft movements were 2.29 million, up by 5.5% from the previous year of 2023.
Cargo movement also rose rapidly with the domestic movement handling 917,816 tons and the international movement of 4,020,046 tons. The total carried cargo tonnage was 4.94 million tons, the growth of which in terms of the year-on-year was 11.1 %.
Istanbul Airport: The Country's Busiest Hub
The passenger and aircraft traffic, in 2024, was dominated again by Istanbul Airport. It handled 517,285 aircraft movements; 117,764 domestic and 399,521 international flight movements. The airport catered 79.87 million passengers, among which 17.094 million were domestic passengers and 62.904 million were international passengers It recorded a 5% growth in comparison to 2023.
Expansion at Sabiha Gökçen Airport
Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul also recorded increased growth in 2024. For the year the airport handled 242,345 flights and 41,484,000 passengers with 19,500,000 domestic and 21,970,000 international passengers. This is up from 2023 by 13%.
Sabiha Gökçen handled 21,467 flight movements and 3.57 million passengers in December, and the number has increased by 15% compared to the same period of the preceding year.
Tourism Hubs Drive Traffic
Airports in Türkiye’s tourist areas hosted 60.8 million passengers in 2024 On domestic lines and 42.7 million on international lines while the domestic traffic totaled 18.1 million.
Key contributors included:
- Antalya Airport: 38.25 million passengers
- Izmir Adnan Menderes Airport: 11.51 million passengers
- Muğla Dalaman Airport: 5.66 million passengers
- Milas-Bodrum Airport: 4.38 million passengers
- Gazipaşa-Alanya Airport: 1.05 million passengers
These numbers show that Türkiye’s aviation industry is still expanding due to high customer demand and stable infrastructure, in addition to tourism.
