Turkey's flag carrier marks its 86th anniversary

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines is marking 86 years of its foundation on Monday.

The carrier started its operations with five aircraft, which had 28 seat capacity in total, said the airlines in a written statement.

"Today, Turkish Airlines carries hundreds of thousands of passengers across the world with its modern fleet of 336 aircrafts," it added.

The firm was established with the name of The State Airlines Administration in May 20, 1933 at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport, which was closed for commercial flights after all operations were moved to Istanbul Airport in March.

"After expanding passenger capacity and targets, the carrier made its first international flight in 1947 to Athens," the statement read.

The carrier flies to 309 destinations in 124 countries currently, it noted.

Turkish Airlines has 15 subsidiaries and joint ventures, such as Turkish Technic, Turkish Cargo, Turkish Ground Services, Turkish Opet Aviation Fuels, and Sun Express.

The company saw 62.85 billion Turkish liras ($12.85 billion) annual revenue and 4.04 billion Turkish liras ($753 million) net profit in 2018 when it carried 75.2 million passengers with a seat occupancy rate of 82%.

The flag carrier's total assets were around 109.1 billion liras ($20.7 billion), by the end of the last year.

The Turkey Wealth Fund holds 49.12% share of the carrier, and the rest of the shares are publicly held.