Turkish Airlines targets 74M passengers in 2018

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Airlines has announced that it aims to carry up to 74 million passengers in 2018.

"Total number of passengers carried is targeted to reach 74 million including 33 million on domestic routes, 41 million on international routes," the flag carrier said in a filing posted on Borsa Istanbul's public disclosure platform.

The airline said that the sales revenue was targeted to hit $11.8 billion this year.

The company expects to increase its capacity by 5-6 percent year-on-year in 2018 to reach approximately 183 million of Available Seat Kilometers (ASK), which measures an airline's total passenger capacity in km.

"Capacity (ASK) increase is expected to be 10 percent in Turkey, 9 percent in Middle East, 6 percent in Europe, 6 percent in Far East, 4 percent in America and 3 percent in Africa regions," it said.

Turkish Airlines projected its seat occupancy to be around 79-80 percent in the new year, adding the volume of cargo/mail carried was expected to increase by 21 percent reaching 1.3 million tonnes.