Istanbul Airport became the busiest airport in Europe throughout last year with an average of 1,156 flights per day, according to the 2022 report of the European Air Navigation Safety Organization (Eurocontrol).

Eurocontrol has most recently published the comprehensive report of 2022 on European airports and airline traffic.

According to the report, in which a mutual evaluation was made with 2019 – the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – Istanbul Airport was the only airport in Europe to catch the pre-pandemic flight numbers.

The airport was followed by Amsterdam with 1,140 daily flights, Paris with 1,122 flights, Frankfurt with 1,048 flights and London with 1,042 flights.

Istanbul Airport, along the Black Sea coast, has managed to turn into one of the most important transit centers in aviation since it was officially declared open in late October 2018, before becoming fully operational in April 2019.

It reflected the emergence of Istanbul, Europe’s largest city straddling Europe and Asia, as a major regional transport hub.

Istanbul Airport can handle 90 million passengers a year in the current phase, which, while it is a high figure, is nothing compared to its potential capacity to serve 200 million after the completion of all phases, making it the world’s largest.

All four phases of the airport’s construction and expansion, including six runways, are expected to be completed by 2028, Daily Sabah reports.