THY serves over 63 mln passengers

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s national flag carrier Turkish Airlines served a total of 63.1 million passengers in the January-October period this year, the company announced on Nov. 12.

The number of international passengers rose by 3.1 percent on an annual basis to 37 million while the number of domestic passengers declined by 7.5 percent to 26 million.

The carrier also said its passenger load factor was 81.6 percent in the first 10 months of 2019.

Cargo/mail carried during January-October increased by 9.3 percent from a year ago to reach 1.26 million tons, according to the statement THY issued to Borsa Istanbul.

The carrier flew to a total of 316 destinations as of end-October versus 304 routes a year earlier.

THY also said the number of aircraft in its fleet increased to 346 from 329 and its total seat capacity rose to 67,953 from 65,273.

In October alone, the carrier served 6.6 million passengers, a 1.9 percent increase compared with the same month of 2018.

It carried 4.04 million international travelers which translated into an 8.8 percent annual increase while the number of domestic passengers it served dropped 7.2 percent on an annual basis to 2.6 million.

The passenger load factor in the month was 83.3 percent in October.

Last year, the company carried 75.2 million passengers.