Number of passengers at Turkish airports slips 41.3% in first 4 months
People wear protective face masks in light of the coronavirus pandemic, at Istanbul Airport, Istanbul, Turkey, March 13, 2020. (Reuters Photo)


The number of passengers flying through Turkish airports stood at 33.7 million in January-April, the country's airport authority reported Thursday.

The introduction of coronavirus-related travel restrictions and the closure of national borders led to a 41.3% year-on-year decrease in the four-month figure, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) data showed.

Some 19.5 million passengers took international flights from January to April, slipping 40.4% compared to the same period last year. The number of domestic flight passengers plummeted by 42.2% to 14.2 million in the same period.

Turkish airports served 389,898 planes including overflights, down from 580,728 in January-April last year.

The report also said cargo traffic posted an annual drop of 26.5% to 828,336 tons in the first four months of 2020.

Airports in the country served 209.09 million air passengers – including transit passengers – in 2019, down by 0.9% compared to the previous year. Istanbul Airport had hosted 25% of the total passengers, with 52.6 million air passengers.