22.7M passengers flew Turkish Airlines in Jan-April

ANKARA

Turkey's national flag carrier served 22.7 million passengers in January-April this year, the company announced Thursday.

In the four-month period, the total number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines fell 2.4% year-on-year.

"The number of passengers carried in domestic lines decreased by 6.8% and the number of international lines increased by 1.3%," it said.

The airline's seat occupancy rate -- passenger load factor -- was 80.8% in the same period.

"Number of landings (passenger aircraft) of 154,467 for the period of January-April 2018 decreased by 2.7% to 150,242 in 2019.

"Cargo/mail carried during the period of January-April 2019 increased by 8.3% to 463,289 tons from 427,834 tons in 2018," the company said.

Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933, flies to more than 300 destinations in over 120 countries with its fleet of 335 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes.

Last year, the company carried 75.2 million passengers with a seat occupancy rate of 82 percent, and this year aims to reach 80 million passengers on domestic and international routes.

The airline’s net profit reached 4.04 billion Turkish liras ($753 million) last year, up from 639 million liras ($223 million) in 2017.