Sabiha Gökçen Airport Achieves Strategic Success

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport ended 2025 as a turning point, redefining its operational boundaries and cementing its position in the global aviation arena. Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW), celebrating its 25th anniversary, reached 48.4 million passengers, proving itself one of the world's most important international hubs.

OAG, the world's leading aviation platform providing data and analytics to the global travel industry since 1929, interpreted Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport's 2025 performance as "a strategic success among Europe's top 10 airports."

OAG, a UK-based institution recognised as one of the most reliable authorities in determining the digital compass of the aviation sector and global aviation strategies, published the "World's Busiest Airports in 2025" report on 15 January 2026, prepared using Global Airline Schedules Data.

In the report featuring analysis based on full-year 2025 planning data (January-December), year-on-year comparisons, and comparative analysis with the pre-pandemic period (including 2024 and 2019 data), Sabiha Gökçen Airport's 2025 performance was described as "a strategic success among Europe's top 10 airports."

First in capacity growth: 15% increase
In OAG's "Europe's top 10 airports" assessment, which ranks airports by offered seat capacity, Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) increased its capacity by 15% compared to the previous year in 2025, reaching 28.6 million one-way (semi-route) seat capacity, and recorded the highest annual increase among the top 10 airports.

The report noted that Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC), important European centres, remained below pre-pandemic (2019) levels.

Although both airports showed recovery trends of 3% and 5% respectively compared to 2024, Sabiha Gökçen Airport, recording a 15% annual increase, surpassed Munich, which dropped to 10th place.
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen became the only new airport entering the "Europe's top 10 airports" list, climbing two positions from 11th place in 2024 to settle in 9th place in the study. Maintaining its leadership in long-term growth performance, Sabiha Gökçen Airport increased its capacity by 37% above 2019 figures, becoming the fastest-growing airport compared to the pre-pandemic period.

John Grant, Chief Analyst at OAG, evaluating the 2025 World's Busiest Airports ranking, pointed out that global aviation is entering a new growth phase while emphasising Istanbul's rise as a global hub.

In further assessment of Sabiha Gökçen, John Grant stated that "the 48.4 million passenger figure indicates a load factor of 84% throughout the year; this data is a coherent and consistent indicator aligned with market expectations."

Kerem Maybek: "ISG's success is the concrete realisation of the transformation vision"
Kerem Maybek, Deputy General Manager of Commercial Affairs and Strategy at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (ISG) Airport, interpreting this success not merely as a volume increase but as a concrete manifestation of the holistic transformation vision at ISG positioning technology as a strategic lever, stated that in 2026 they will continue to support rapidly growing traffic with sustainability principles and technology-focused investments while delivering world-standard passenger experience.

Maybek stated, "Turkey, with its geopolitical advantage at the heart of three continents, has become one of the leading hubs of global aviation both as a rapid transit route and an ergonomic connection point. We connect Istanbul, the apple of the world's eye and the central hub of this critical logistics corridor, with 23 airlines to 55 countries and a total of 154 destinations, comprising 39 domestic and 115 international routes. Our airport is not merely a destination; it has transformed into a vast ecosystem setting new global aviation 'hub' standards."

Maybek concluded his remarks as follows:
"At Sabiha Gökçen, the 'City's – Cities' Airport,' which has stronger, faster and more integrated connections with Istanbul and its surroundings through land, sea and rail systems, we will continue to offer our passengers not just a transit point, but a comfortable, seamless, predictable and digitalised travel experience."