More passengers passed through İstanbul Atatürk Airport in 2012 than in any other year, reaching 41 million people. up from 37 million in 2011.
The increase in passengers was contributed to by an increase in the number of Turkish Airlines (THY) routes and flights in 2012. The airport is the main THY hub. The number of flights by all carriers at the airport rose from 323,000 in 2011 to 334,000 in 2012.
Domestic and international fliers averaged about 100,000 a day in 2012, and 125 airlines used the airport throughout the year. The busiest days for the airport in 2012 were Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. According to data, the busiest month of the year was September, when the number of arrivals and departures totaled 132,000, breaking a record. On Sept. 2, the airport hosted the most passengers of any day last year, 130,587.
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Observers have acknowledged that the airport’s capacity will not be sufficient to meet demand in the future. THY Chairman Hamdi Topçu had suggested taking over the operation of a nearby military airport and moving the military functions to another location in the city back in April. However, in November, plans for a third airport to be built in İstanbul between Yeniköy and Akpınar, villages north of İstanbul’s European side, near the Black Sea, were revealed by Minister of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım. Once the third airport becomes operational in 2016, part of Atatürk Airport will be turned into a congress hall and the remainder of the facility will continue to serve as an airport on a smaller scale.
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