Turkish carriers’ passenger traffic rises, load factors see slight drop

However, the load factor, which measures an airline’s capacity utilization, declined in Turkish Airlines by 3.4 percentage points to 73.8 percent and in Pegasus by 1.4 percentage points to 75.9 percent in the mentioned, mainly due to decreases in international flights, according to data announced by companies to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) on May 16. 

While the passenger load factor in Turkish Airlines increased by 0.6 percent in domestic flights in the first four months of the year compared to the same period of 2015, the factor declined 3.9 percent in foreign flights.

Pegasus also saw the same trend, as its load factor in international flights dropped by around 4.5 percentage points in the mentioned period, despite a slight increase in domestic flights. 

Turkish Airlines carried a total of 19.3 million passengers in the first four months of the year, with a 10.8 percent increase in domestic flight passengers and a 7 percent increase in foreign flights from the same period of 2015. Pegasus Airlines carried a total of 7.2 million passengers in the January-April period, according to data. 

The number of Turkish Airlines aircraft increased from 274 to 314 in April compared to the same month of 2015. The number of destinations also increased from 269 to 285 in the mentioned period.