ICF Airports Antalya Airport aims to serve 26 million passengers in 2012

ANTALYA (A.A) - Director General of ICF Airports Antalya Airport, Ersel Goral, said Friday that they aimed at increasing the number of international flight passengers served by 4 percent and domestic flights passengers by 10 percent. Speaking to reporters in the southern province of Antalya, Goral said that they aimed at serving 26.2 million passengers in 2012. In 2011, we served 25,113,635 passengers and 165,000 flights. This was a record figure for Antalya, Goral said. As of the end of March, we will implement the "Open Gate" service which will make it possible for passengers to go through security and passport check at the same point. This way the passengers will have enough time to make use of the facilities at the airport. Furthermore, we have erected a room of 500 square meters at the second international flights terminal where passengers can smoke, Goral noted. We have made agreements with 17 airlines and some countries, such as Serbia, began direct flights to Antalya, Goral said. In the long run, we aim to increase the number of flights to Antalya during winter months. Our first target market will be Russia, Goral underlined. 80 percent of all flights to Antalya take place between May and October. The potential customers who would come to Antalya may come for cultural and health tourism as well as for playing golf and spending time in SPAs, Goral indicated. In the past few years, individuals throughout the world pay more attention to how much they spend for travelling. Price policies in tourism must be reviewed, Goral also said.