Turkey's air passenger transportation on rise

ANKARA (A.A) - February 12, 2012 - Turkey's transportation, maritime and communication minister has said that Turkey's air passenger transportation was on the rise. Binali Yildirim said Turkey had surpassed many other countries in civil aviation and broken a record. "The number of domestic and international passengers in Turkey has reached 118 million, and the sector continues to grow in 2012," Yildirim told AA Editors' Desk. Yildirim said air transportation in Turkey grew 14.4 percent in 2011 and the number of Turkish aircraft rose to 1,080. On highway transportation to Gulf countries, Yildirim said Turkey was planning to establish a line from the southern province of Mersin to Alexandria, Egypt or Port-Said and from those points to Port Safaga (Egypt) in the south. "Then, the route will go on from the Red Sea to Arabia and then to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other countries," Yildirim said. Yildirim also said however, it was not so easy to establish that route but Turkey had to find new routes due to recent conditions in Syria and Iraq.