Turkish Airlines' passenger numbers flat in January

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Airlines carried 5.7 million passengers in January 2019, same as the first month of last year, a stock exchange filing report revealed on Tuesday.

The number of passengers carried in domestic flights decreased 3.5 percent while passengers on international routes rose 2.8 percent during the same period, according to the report posted on a public disclosure platform website.

International-to-international transfer passengers --transit passengers-- surged by 5.2 percent year-on-year in January.

The seat occupancy rate in the month reached 79.5 percent, falling 0.3 percent from the same month in 2017.

Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) offered by the company increased 2.5 percent on a yearly basis to hit 14.6 billion in January.

The company also announced that the cargo/mail carried last month went up 14.9 percent to 112,404 tons from 97,810 tons in January 2018.

By the end of January 2019, Turkish Airlines had 333 aircraft flying to 306 destinations in 124 countries.

In 2018, Turkish Airlines carried 75.2 million passengers, indicating an annual rise of 10 percent. The airline's seat occupancy rate was at 82 percent last year.

This year, the company targets a total number of passengers carried to reach 80 million on domestic and international routes. The national flag carrier expects its passenger load factor to be in the band of 81 percent and 82 percent in 2019.