Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport

The Council of State, Türkiye's top administrative court, has issued a landmark ruling declaring it unlawful to subject judges to pat-downs when X-ray screening devices raise alarms at airport entrances.

Turkish Airlines (THY) carried 55.97 million passengers in the January-August period, marking a 20 percent increase from a year earlier.

The international passenger tally rose by 19 percent to 35.3 million, while domestic passengers were up nearly 22 percent to 20.7 million.

The passenger load factor improved from 78.9 percent in January-August last year to 82.9 percent.

The total passenger traffic at Türkiye's airports has increased by 23 percent in the first seven months of the year from a year ago to 184.5 million.

Total of 94.5 million passengers have gone through Türkiye's airports in the first six months of 2023, data from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) have shown.

British Airways has launched flights between Sabiha Gökçen Airport on Istanbul's Asian side and London's Heathrow.

The inaugural flight touched down on Sabiha Gökçen on June 1.

The new route between Sabiha Gökçen and Heathrow will operate four times per week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays on a mix of A320 and A321 aircraft, the Turkish airport said in a statement.

Flights at the Gaziantep Airport were stopped for about 12 hours, while 26 flights were canceled after an unidentified object was reported in the airspace.

An unidentified object was detected by the cockpit crew of two passenger planes at an altitude of approximately 9,000 feet (2,743 meters) in the southern province of Gaziantep at around midnight on May 20.

Imamoglu speaks to the crowd in Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Photo: Istanbul Municipality

Türkiye's mega airport Istanbul was the busiest one in Europe, with an average of 1,263 daily flights in March, according to EUROCONTROL.

Sabiha Gökçen, also in Istanbul, ranked 17th on the list with an average of 549 daily flights.

Istanbul Airport was followed by Heathrow with 1,190 flights and Charles de Gaulle in Paris with 1,135 flights.

Türkiye's airports served nearly 39 million passengers in the January-March period, up by 31.7 percent in the same period of 2022, data from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) have shown.

Total passenger traffic at Türkiye's airports increased by 42 percent last year from 2021 to 182 million, data from the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ).