Routes World 2023 host iGA Istanbul Airport is fast becoming a megahub connecting east and west
By DAVID CASEY
Istanbul Airport (IST) handled some 64.3 million passengers in 2022 as traffic through the Turkish hub continued to surge.
The increase was just shy of the 68.7 million passengers who travelled through the city’s main gateway in 2019—a figure that includes the combined traffic for IST and the old Ataturk airport, which closed in April of that year.
The total traffic figure last year also represented an increase of about 74% on 2021 levels. The airport now believes it can hit the 70 million milestone this year and 100 million passengers by 2026—about 12 months earlier than expected.
Much of Istanbul’s strength relies on the performance of hub carrier Turkish Airlines, which connects the airport to about 253 destinations worldwide. The number of seats offered by the Star Alliance member from IST in February 2023 is 6% higher than at this time in 2019, OAG data shows.
However, the airport has been working hard to further expand its number of airline partners, with a focus on enhancing low-cost penetration, particularly on routes to Europe.
Although the sole European LCC offering flights to IST at the present time is Transavia France, with service from Lyon (LYS), Nantes (NTE) and Paris Orly (ORY), Istanbul received a boost in January with the confirmation that Wizz Air will begin operations during the northern summer 2023 season.
Wizz last served the Istanbul market six years ago, when it operated flights to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen (SAW) from Budapest (BUD). However, operations ended in October 2016 and the city has remained absent from its network ever since.
The new routes to IST will see the ULCC fly from two London airports—Gatwick (LGW) and Luton (LTN)—as well as Hungary’s Budapest and Iasi (IAS) in Romania. During peak summer, Wizz plans to offer more than 10,000 weekly seats to and from Istanbul. The airline is also launching four seasonal routes to the tourist resorts Antalya (AYT) and one to Dalaman (DLM).
“European travelers will get even more connections to explore a historical, cultural and vibrant city of Istanbul and our seaside destinations,” IST VP airport development Majid Khan said.
“Wizz Air operates purely point-to-point traffic without any transfer, which means all foreign passengers arriving to Istanbul and Türkiye with Wizz Air will have Istanbul, Dalaman and Antalya as their final destinations. It will directly benefit Istanbul’s and Türkiye’s tourism industry.”
Other recent successes for IST have included growing point-to-point traffic to the United Arab Emirates with the arrival of Air Arabia and flydubai, which operate from Sharjah (SHJ) and Dubai (DXB) respectively. Since the airlines launched routes in summer 2021, Turkish Airlines has also increased Dubai frequencies from three to four per day, while Emirates has grown from 17X-weekly to 3X-daily on the same sector.
Additionally, capacity to China is returning after Beijing opted to ease its travel restrictions in early January. Turkish Airlines has already resumed flights to Shanghai (PVG), with Beijing Capital (PEK) resuming this week. China Southern Airlines is also restoring Beijing Daxing (PKX) flights later this month and Sichuan Airlines looks set to restart Chengdu (CTU) service in March.
Future targets for Istanbul include further developing its network in Asia, with connections to Pakistan a focus.
Routes World 2023 takes place Oct. 15-17 in Istanbul, Türkiye.
iGA Istanbul Airport
