Turkish Airlines (THY) carried 23.6 million passengers in the January-April period, up nearly 34 percent from a year ago.The passenger load factor improved from 71.4 percent to 80.8 percent, the company said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.
The international passenger tally leaped 42.4 percent annually to 15.4 million in the first four months of 2023, while the number of domestic passengers grew 19.8 percent to 8.3 million.
Seat capacity increased by 12 percent year-on-year to 84,051.
The number of destinations the flag carrier flies to rose from 329 to 337, while the company expanded its fleet from 372 aircraft to 414.
In April alone, the total passenger number increased by 31 percent from a year ago to 6.54 million, with international passengers rising 26.2 percent to 4.1 million. Last month, Turkish Airlines carried 2.5 million domestic passengers, up nearly 40 percent from April 2022.
Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines aims to lure more American tourists into Türkiye. As part of those efforts, the carrier recently held an event in Los Angeles to promote Türkiye. This was the third of such events, which were previously organized in New York and Miami.
The company targets to bring 2 million tourists from the U.S. to Türkiye.
THY carried 3.5 million passengers from the U.S., but only 1 million of those travelers’ destination was Türkiye, as others were transit passengers, said Ahmet Bolat, the chairman of Turkish Airlines’ Board and Executive Committee.
“Istanbul is popular with U.S. tourists. We are promoting other destinations in Türkiye, such as Göbeklitepe, Cappadocia, [the provinces of] Mardin, Diyarbakır and Urfa, to attract visitors from the U.S. We are organizing tours to those destinations,” Bolat explained.
Source : Hurriyet Daily News
