Helsinki Airport

As the travel season approaches, Sofia Airport gears up to kickstart its summer schedule, bringing exciting new travel opportunities for passengers. According to an official announcement from the airport, travelers can expect direct flights to four new destinations, enhancing connectivity and convenience for those flying in and out of the Bulgarian capital.

Istanbul Airport has been named "Airport of the Year" for the fourth time at the Air Transport Awards 2024.

In its five years of operation, the airport received the prize four times, demonstrating a remarkable achievement, the Air Transport News said.

The winners are determined by a vote involving more than 4,000 Air Transport News readers and aviation industry executives.

Passenger traffic in the country's airports in the first 11 months of the year is up 9.6 percent on the whole of 2022, data from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority has shown.

While 63.68 million passengers travelled through Greek airports in 2022, from January to November 2023 a record 69.8 million passengers did so.

Greek travelers are turning to European destinations off the usual list but more affordable, as shown by the air booking data for the upcoming national holiday on October 28.

Aegean Airlines has increased its number of available seats by between 18% and 20% on the international and domestic networks.

Passenger traffic posted a major increase across the country's airports during the year's first five months, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority.

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.

The Finnish air carrier Finnair re-launched scheduled flights between Helsinki and Ljubljana after a three-year hiatus on 10 April. It will be flying between the two capitals four times a week.

Finnair will be flying an Airbus A319 to Helsinki on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flights from Ljubljana will depart at 9:25am and arrive in Helsinki at 1.05pm local time.

The launch of the tourism season on the island of Corfu was inaugurated on Sunday, March 26 with an easyJet flight from Belfast that landed at Ioannis Kapodistrias Airport at about 11.30 a.m.

Nine flights followed, starting at 3 p.m. from the UK, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Belgium.

Total passenger traffic at Athens International Airport in 2022 reached 22.73 million travelers, representing an increase of 84.1% compared to 2021 and a decrease of 11.1% compared to 2019.

Turkish Airlines carried a total of 71.8 million passengers in 2022, with the international passenger tally rising nearly 6 percent.

Last year, the carrier served 46.3 million international passengers, and the load factor on the international routes was 80.2 percent, Turkish Airlines said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.