Istanbul: Sabiha Gokcen Airport, located on Istanbul's Asian side, served 44.2 million passengers between January and November, surpassing the previous year's record of 41.4 million. Turkish Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu highlighted the recent developments contributing to this achievement.

According to Anadolu Agency, Uraloglu indicated that the introduction of a new runway in December 2023, designed to accommodate wide-body aircraft, played a crucial role in the record-breaking figures. This announcement coincided with the second anniversary of the runway's operational status.

Uraloglu further explained that enhancements such as the taxiway, high-capacity aircraft and cargo aprons, the traffic control tower, and advanced superstructures significantly increased Sabiha Gokcen Airport's air traffic capacity. In 2023, 33.7 million passengers were served on both domestic and international flights from January to November.

He revealed that the passenger count increased by 31% in the first 11 months of 2025 compared to the period before the second runway's activation in 2023. "In just 11 months, we surpassed the record passenger count of 41.4 million for the entire year of 2024," he noted.

Uraloglu also stated that 208,643 aircraft operated from the airport between January and November 2023, with this number rising 20% to 250,538 in the same period this year. "In 2024 as a whole, this figure was 242,612," he added.