The number of airline passengers in Turkey boosted to 103 million in 2010, compared to about 34,000 in 2002, accroding to a transportation ministry report. The number of large aircrafts has risen from 110 to 332 during the same period, the report said.

he airborne traffic in Turkey’s civil aviation sector has grown about 128 percent and the sector’s total revenue has increased about 4.5-fold over the past eight years, according to a report released Thursday by the transportation ministry.

Turkey’s air traffic has increased by about 128 percent in the last eight years, from 532,231 flights in 2002 to more than 1,213 million last year, according to the 2010 report by the Transportation Ministry’s General Directorate for Civil Aviation. Meanwhile, the passenger traffic expanded to about 103 million passengers last year, compared to about 34,000 it was in 2002, the report says.

Air traffic grew 16 percent a year on average for the period between 2002 and 2010, whereas the figure is 25.5 percent for passenger traffic. The sector’s total revenue, on the other hand, increased from 2.2 billion to 12 billion dollars in the past eight years.

The civil aviation sector constituted an average of 14 percent of the gross national product in the last five years, growing at a rate of 8 percent, the ministry report said. “The transportation sector has become one of the world economy’s key elements, given the increase in trade volume along with globalization.”

Some 50.5 million passengers were transported through Turkey’s airports by six airline companies in 2010, compared to 8.5 million passengers carried by only one company, Turkish Airlines, to 25 destinations in the country.

Demand for air transport increased by 16 percent, compared to a 7.6 percent growth in the demand for land transportation. The figure was 2 and 5 percent for rail and sea transportation, respectively.

This increase in demand has re-activated stagnant airports such as Balýkesir-Gulf, Bursa-Yeniþehir, Çanakkale (Dardanelles) and Siirt. The Sivas Nuri Demirað, Tokat, Uþak, Balýkesir Merkez, Sinop and Zonguldak-Çaycuma airports, once closed, were also re-opened.

The Þanlýurfa GAP, Hatay, Amasya-Merzifon, Antalya-Gazipaþa and Gökçeada airports have also been added to the civil aviation sector. Thus, the number of airports pertaining to the civil aviation sector increased to 46, out of Turkey’s 67 airports in total.

The number of large aircrafts that provide services in the commercial air transportation sector, increased from 110 in 2002 to 332 in 2010, marking an increase of more than 300 percent. Of these aircrafts, 26 served for cargo whereas 306 served for passengers.

The report also said there has been a radical increase in the number of destinations abroad to 157 in 2010, compared to 60 destinations in 2002.