Turkish Airlines passenger numbers display sharp increase

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

REUTERS photo

Passenger numbers for Turkish Airlines surged sharply in the first quarter of 2016 despite rising geopolitical tensions in the region, a stock exchange filing report showed April 14.

“During the period of January-March 2016, the number of passengers carried increased by 10.3 percent, reaching 14.2 million passengers from 12.9 million for the same period in 2015,” the airline said in its filing report posted on a public disclosure platform website.        

The numbers of passengers carried in domestic and international flights were up 11.4 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.        

Last month, Turkish Airlines was named “Airline of the Year” by Air Transport News magazine readers.  
     
Last year, Turkish Airlines won the “Best Airline in Europe” title for the fifth year running at the Skytrax World Airline Awards.        

Turkish Airlines fleet, which had a fleet of 268 aircraft in March 2015, jumped to 306 by the end of March.

The number of destinations also went up year on year in March from 265 to 285. The number of domestic destinations also increased from 43 to 49 and international destinations from 222 to 236.