Turkey hosts 116.8M air passengers in Jan.-July

Turkish airports saw a total of 116.8 million passengers -- including direct transit passengers -- during the first seven months of 2019, the country's air travel authority announced on Tuesday.

The number of domestic passengers was 58.6 million while 58.1 million international air passengers were served by Turkey's airports in the Jan.-July period, according to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI).

Turkish airports served 1.15 million planes -- including overflights -- in the first seven months of this year.

Istanbul Airport, whose first phase officially opened in October 2018 and which took over air traffic from the former main Atatürk Airport on April 6, welcomed 6.2 million passengers and served 39,804 planes in January-July.

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.

The country's airports also saw 1.8 million tons of air cargo and mail -- 453,343 tons of domestic and 1.36 million tons of international.

In July, Turkey also saw 12.9 million air passengers and 83,547 planes.