None like Istanbul: record in May for Turkish airport
Istanbul Airport, during this month, is offering passengers more destinations than any other airport in the world, thanks [...]
Istanbul Airport, during this month, offers passengers more destinations than any other airport in the world, thanks largely to the work of Turkish Airlines.
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È world's busiest airport in May. A figure that testifies to the big growth of Istanbul and tourism in Turkey in general. With 277 destinations made available to its customers, the airport in Turkey's main city has now established itself as a key hub straddling Europe and Asia and beyond.
A credit due in large part to the growth of Turkish Airlines of recent years, and confirming a trend that grows and is consolidated with the passage of time. The Istanbul airport had already been the second with the most destinations in 2021. What is even more surprising is that, compared to the pre-pandemic, it recorded a decline of just one-third in routes, far less than its foreign competitors.
Istanbul's numbers
277 possible destinations, more than any other airport in the world. Frankfurt, now one of Europe's leading airports, follows by a nose (275 destinations), but already on the third step of the podium we see the distance growing, with Amsterdam's "only" 260 destinations. Dallas Fort Worth, the top U.S. airport, stops at 242.
The reasons for this success are several. Certainly the city's strategic geographic location, which has made it a highly sought-after tourist destination: 15 million tourists were estimated in 2019, corresponding to slightly less than the population of the entire urban area. Then Turkish Airlines' strategic choices, which aim to serve not only important external destinations but also a varied number of international landfalls, were influential.
In fact, looking at the Istanbul airport data, we notice that although most of the planned destinations are in Europe (97), some of them also follow Not particularly usual routes, such as Baku, Moscow-Vnukovo, and Bucharest. And, before the recent war, the Turkish airport was connected to as many as six different airports in Ukraine.
The Turkish flag carrier's choices have steered it toward several "smaller" destinations, as evidenced by the 67 destinations in Asia, about two-thirds of them in the central and eastern parts of the continent. But, if the destinations in the Americas are quite limited (just 23 between North, South and the Caribbean), Istanbul's real strength is direct flights to Africa: 45 destinations (same number as domestic ones), to which Juba, South Sudan, will be added from next summer.
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