Turkish Airlines passenger traffic up 28 percent

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines carried a total of 6.1 million passengers in March, pointing to a robust 27.5 percent increase from the same month of last year, according to data the company released.

The passenger load factor improved from 75.8 percent in March 2022 to 81.9 percent last month, while the number of landings grew 32 percent on an annual basis to nearly 40,000.

The flag carrier boosted its seat capacity from 75,459 to 83,300 and the number of airplanes in its fleet rose more than 10 percent to 411.

Turkish Airlines flew to 337 destinations as of March, up from 329 in the same month of 2022.

The company handled 132,000 tons of cargo and mail, down 7.5 percent on an annual basis.

In March, the carrier served 2.1 million domestic passengers, which translated to a 12.3 percent year-on-year increase with the load factor falling from 87.2 percent to 77.7 percent.

The international passenger tally soared 37.3 percent last month from a year earlier to more than 4 million. The passenger load factor on the international flights rose from 74.4 percent to 82.3 percent.

The total number of passengers the company carried rose by 34.7 percent in the first quarter to 17.1 million.

Domestic passenger traffic grew nearly 13 percent to 5.8 million, while international passengers increased over 49 percent to 11.3 million.

On a related note, data from the Airports Council International (ACI) showed that Istanbul Airport was one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world last year.

It ranked seventh in the ACI’s list for 2022, up from the 14th spot in 2021 and 28th in 2019. More than 64 million passengers went through the mega airport last year, an increase of nearly 74 percent from 2021.

In terms of international passengers, Istanbul was the fifth busiest last year, down from the second place it claimed in 2021.

The world’s busiest airport was Atlanta, which served 93.3 million passengers, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver. Dubai and London ranked fifth and eighth, respectively.