By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Airlines carried 49.7 million passengers in the first eight months of 2019, the flag carrier announced on Wednesday.
The number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines decreased by 2.1% year-on-year in January-August period, according to a report posted on the website of a public disclosure platform.
While the number of passengers carried in domestic flights shrank by 7.2%, passengers on international routes rose 1.9% during the same period.
The seat occupancy rate dropped by 0.6 percentage point to 81.2% in the eight month period, versus the same period last year.
Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) offered by the company increased 0.7% on a yearly basis to reach nearly 124 million in Jan.-Aug. period.
Meanwhile, the cargo/mail carried last month surged 9.6% to 985,228 tons.
- Monthly comparison
The number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines posted a decrease of 1.8% year-on-year in August, standing at 7.4 million.
The seat occupancy rate also decreased in the month 0.8 point to 84.8%, the report showed.
While the number of passengers carried in domestic flights fell 10.7%, international passengers rose 4.6% during the same period.
Turkish Airlines carried 130,151 tons of cargo/mail in the last month, increasing by 11.5% from August 2018.
In 2018, Turkish Airlines carried 75.2 million passengers, indicating an annual rise of 10%. The airline's seat occupancy rate last year was 82%.
This year, the company targets to carry 80 million passengers on domestic and international routes.
Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933 with a five-aircraft fleet, currently has 343 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes, and flies to 315 destinations worldwide in 126 countries.