Turkey sees rise in air passengers

The number of passengers passing through the Turkish airports surged 16.4 percent annually in the first five months of 2017, the country's airport authority announced on Wednesday.

The Turkish airports served more than 78 million people between January and May, up from 67 million in the same period last year, according to the General Directorate of State Airports Authority.

In the same period, cargo traffic also saw an increase of 15.2 percent year-on-year to reach over 1.4 million tons -- including overflights.

Turkey served almost 763,113 planes in the first five months of the year, indicating a rise of 9.2 percent from the same period last year, including overflights.

In May, more than 18 million passengers passed through Turkish airports, up 7.3 percent from the same month last year.

The number of international passengers increased 17 percent to reach 8.7 million in May.

Istanbul's Ataturk Airport remains the busiest airport in the country with nearly 4 million international passengers in the month.

Antalya Airport, serving the Mediterranean resort city in southern Turkey, was the second busiest airport with 2.74 million international passengers.