The volume of passenger traffic through the Dnipropetrovsk airport has fallen for the third consecutive year. The airport handled 284,900 passengers in 2016, which is 17.7% fewer than the number of passengers it handled in 2015, the management of the airport announced.

In addition, there has been a shift in the structure of passengers handled by the airport. Previously, passengers on international flights dominated at the Dnipropetrovsk airport, but passengers on domestic flights dominated in 2016. The airport handled 194,700 international passengers and 151,300 domestic passengers in 2015, compared with 141,100 and 143,700, respectively, in 2016.

As reported, Turkish Airlines stopped operating flights to the Dnipropetrovsk airport in the spring of 2016. The reason for this was a conflict with the airport authority, which initially moves the flights to the evening time and later refused to handle the flights. Turkish Airlines has not resumed flights to Dnipropetrovsk since then.

Four airlines currently operate flights from Dnipropetrovsk. Most of the airport’s passenger traffic is provided by the Dniproavia and UIA airlines, which operate mainly domestic flights to Kyiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. UIA also flies to Tel Aviv. The only foreign carrier is Austrian Airlines, which flies on the Vienna-Dnipropetrovsk route. In addition, the Windrose airline operates charter flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

The last passenger traffic through the Dnipropetrovsk airport increased was in 2013, when the passenger traffic through it increased by 2.4% to 454,900. Passenger traffic through the airport began falling after that. Passenger traffic through the airport reduced by 1.8% to 446,700 in 2014 and by 22.5% to 346,000 in 2015.

On the contrary, passenger traffic through the Zaporizhia airport, which is located 90 kilometers from Dnipropetrovsk, has been increasing in recent years. Passenger traffic through the Zaporizhia airport increased by 69.9% in 2015 and by 115% in 2016. The volumes of passenger traffic through the two airports were practically equal in 2016, when the Zaporizhia airport handled 9,500 fewer passengers than the Dnipropetrovsk airport.