Turkish Airlines carries 39 million passengers in six months

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines carried a total of 38.7 million passengers in the first half of 2023, up from 30.9 percent a year earlier.

International passengers rose more than 27 percent in January-June from the same period of 2022 to 24.5 million.

The domestic passenger tally increased by 22 percent to 14.2 million, the flag carrier said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

The passenger load factor improved from 75.6 percent in the first six months last year to 81.5 percent in January-June 2023.

The carrier’s seat capacity increased from 76,808 to 85,559, while it handled 750,175 tons of cargo and mail in the first half, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier.

In June alone, Turkish Airlines’ total passenger traffic grew 12.1 percent year-on-year to 7.73 million, with international passengers rising 4.7 percent to 4.7 million.

The company carried more than 3 million passengers on domestic routes last month, when tens of thousands of people traveled during the Eid al-Adha holiday, up 25.9 percent compared with June 2022.

Turkish Airlines flew to 339 destinations last month, up from 335 a year ago. The carrier expanded its fleet from 380 jets to 419 as of June.

The carrier announced in May that as part of the growth targets set forth in the Strategic Plan covering 2023-2033, it decided to initiate talks with the aircraft and engine manufacturers in order to procure around 600 aircraft, including options, comprising 200 wide-body and 400 narrow-body aircraft.

Meanwhile, Istanbul Airport was the busiest airport in Europe between June 26 and July 2, according to data from EUROCONTOL.

During this period, Istanbul’s mega airport hosted 1,525 flights daily on average.

The airports in Amsterdam and Paris ranked second and third on a daily average of 1,370 and 1,351 flights, respectively, followed by Frankfurt at 1,314.