2016 sees rise in Turkish Airlines passengers: report

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Airlines increased its total number of passengers by 2.5 percent year-on-year in 2016, a stock exchange filing report revealed on Wednesday.

Passenger numbers rose to 62.8 million in 2016 from 61.2 million the previous year, according to the filing posted on a public disclosure platform website.

The numbers of passengers carried in domestic and international flights were up 3.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively in the same period.

"International Business Class passengers remained the same, while international-to-international transfer passengers increased by 14 percent," the company said.

Seat occupancy declined by 3.1 points to 74.6 percent last year compared to 2015.

Turkish Airlines also said its number of destinations went up to 295, consisting of 49 domestic and 246 international locations -- up from 284 the previous year.

The number of aircraft operated by the airline increased by 35 to 334, including 13 cargo planes, up from 299 in 2015.

Turkish Airlines was named Airline of the Year by Air Transport News magazine readers in March 2016.