Istanbul Airport was the busiest civil aviation hub in Europe in January, in keeping with a report by the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation on Monday.
Türkiye’s largest airport, and one of many largest on the earth, noticed a mean of 1,308 flights per day final month, Eurocontrol stated.
Istanbul Airport was adopted by London Heathrow with 1,202 each day flights, whereas Amsterdam Schiphol and Paris Charles De Gaulle ranked third and fourth with 1,160 and 1,032 flights per day, the info confirmed.
Sabiha Gökçen, Türkiye’s second largest airport, got here in tenth with 596 flights on common.
An common of 1,375 flights per day in 2023 granted Istanbul Airport the title of Europe’s busiest for a fourth consecutive yr, in keeping with Eurocontrol.
The airport served round 76 million passengers final yr, up from round 52.75 million in 2019. It seems to be to extend the rely to 85 million all through 2024, its operator, IGA, stated earlier this month.
Istanbul Airport was formally opened in late October 2018 earlier than changing into totally operational in April 2019.
The gleaming glass-and-steel construction alongside the Black Sea coast has managed to show into some of the necessary transit facilities in aviation ever since.
The hub can deal with 90 million passengers a yr within the present section. The determine is nothing in comparison with its potential capability to serve 200 million after finishing all phases.
All 4 phases of the airport’s development and enlargement, together with six runways, are anticipated to be accomplished by 2028.
Last week, officers introduced plans to put in a system at Istanbul Airport enabling three plane to land and take off independently, marking the primary in Europe.
Trainings are deliberate to start out subsequent month earlier than trials start later this yr. The airport’s third runway was inaugurated in June 2020.
Istanbul Airport connects to 315 locations worldwide by way of over 100 worldwide carriers.
In 2023, it had its highest-ever variety of plane takeoffs and landings in a single yr – 505,968. That compares to 329,876 in 2019 and is deliberate to be lifted to just about 540,000 this yr.
Source: www.dailysabah.com