56M+ passengers fly with Turkish Airlines in Jan-Sept

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's national flag carrier served 56.4 million passengers in January-September this year, the company announced Thursday.

Turkish Airlines' seat occupancy rate -- passenger load factor -- was 81.4% in the first nine month of 2019.

"The number of passengers carried in domestic lines decreased by 7.6% and the number of international lines increased by 2.4%," it said.

Over the same period, the total number of passengers carried by the airline fell 2% year-on-year.

"Number of landings (passenger aircraft) of 377,264 for the period of January-September 2018 decreased by 1.7% to 370,713 in 2019.

"Cargo/mail carried during the period of January-September 2019 increased by 9.6% to 1,119,245 tons from 1,021,013 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.

Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933 with a five-aircraft fleet, currently has over 340 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes, and flies to 316 destinations worldwide.

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