The baggage, cargo and mail load carried by flights organized in January from the two airports serving in Istanbul increased by 17% compared to last year.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic worldwide, air transportation was preferred due to the difficulties experienced in land and sea transportation in the transportation of goods and products to various points of the world.
With the effect of air traffic intensifying as the epidemic measures were reduced, the increases in baggage, cargo and mail cargo carried in Istanbul, one of the world’s important aviation centers, and commercial flights in 2023 were reflected in the statistics. On October 31, 2023, many shipping companies decided to stop their voyages in the Red Sea after they began seizing commercial ships off the coast of Yemen, which they said were affiliated with Israeli companies, and attacking some of them with unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles.
As a result of this, air cargo came to the fore again while the route in maritime transportation was lengthened.
According to the data on the website of the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMI), in the first month of this year, a total of 249 thousand 557 tons of luggage, cargo and mail, 13 thousand 931 tons on the domestic route and 235 thousand 626 tons on the international route, were transported through flights based at Istanbul Airport.
A total of 209 thousand 465 luggage, cargo and mail loads were transported at this airport in January last year. There was a 19% increase in freight transportation at Istanbul Airport in January compared to the same period last year.
In January this year, a total of 31 thousand 763 tons of cargo, 9 thousand 802 tons of which were domestic and 21 thousand 961 tons were international, were transported with arrival and departure flights based at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport. The amount of cargo transported at the airport, where 30 thousand 838 tons of luggage, cargo and mail were transported in the same period last year, increased by 3% in January.
With the flights organized from two airports in Istanbul in the first month of 2024, the total amount was 281 thousand 320 tons, 23 thousand 733 on the domestic route and 257 thousand 587 on the international route.
In Istanbul-based flights, which carried 240 thousand 303 tons of cargo in the same period last year, the amount of cargo transported this year increased by 17% (41 thousand 17 tons).
7% increase in commercial flights
The increases in all branches of the aviation industry, which started last year and continued this year, also had an impact on commercial flights.
A total of 40 thousand 120 commercial flights were operated from Istanbul Airport in the first month of 2024, of which 8 thousand 697 were domestic and 31 thousand 423 were international.
Commercial flights increased by 6% at the airport, where a total of 37 thousand 992 flights were organized in the same period last year.
In the first month of this year, a total of 18 thousand 801 commercial flights were made from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, 8 thousand 422 on domestic lines and 10 thousand 379 on international lines. A total of 17 thousand 215 flights were operated from this airport in the same period last year.
There was a 9% increase in January compared to last year.
In January, a total of 58 thousand 921 commercial flights were organized from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and Istanbul Airport. In the same period last year, 55 thousand 207 commercial flights were operated from Istanbul airports. It was calculated that commercial flights increased by 7% compared to the same month last year.
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz