Turkish Airlines carries 46.5 million passengers in nine months

ISTANBUL

The number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines surged by 12.2 percent in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to a stock exchange filing on Oct. 19.According to the statement released on the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), the flag carrier showed an increase of 5.1 million to reach 46.5 million passengers in 2015, up from 41.1million passengers within the same period in 2014.Passenger numbers on domestic routes were up by 9.1 percent, while international Business and Comfort Class passengers increased by 6.2 percent and international-to-international transfer passengers increased by 16.8 percent over the same period.Load factor however decreased by 0.8 points to 79 percent over the same period, according to the statement.The number of flight destinations rose to 277 from 260, with domestic destinations up to 48 from 43 and international destinations up to 229 from 217 by the end of September 2015 compared to the same month of 2014.The number of aircraft in service also rose to 298 from 265 in September 2014.Turkish Airlines offers flights to over 250 destinations in over 100 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and America, according to the company’s website.