Turkish Airlines (THY) said on Friday its passenger numbers rose 15 percent to 22.5 million in 2008 from 19.6 million a year earlier, as it continues to expand to new destinations.
The Turkish flag-carrier said in a statement that available seat kilometres rose 11.3 percent to 46.3 billion and revenue passenger kilometres rose 12.9 percent to 34.1 billion.
The Istanbul-based airline has launched a large-scale expansion programme, with plans to buy up to 105 wide-bodied and single-aisle aircraft from Boeing and Airbus . It has extended the tender deadline to Jan. 19 at the request of the manufacturers.
Shares in THY were up 3.15 percent in morning trade, in line with a broadly stronger market.
The company, partly owned by the Turkish state, signed a deal last month to buy a 49 percent stake in Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat federation flag-carrier BH Airlines.
THY said international flight business class passenger numbers rose 23.2 percent in 2008, while international transit passengers were up 41.3 percent.
The load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 73.8 percent last year, while landings rose 11.5 percent to 189,949 and cargo-mail increased 8.7 percent to 199,006 tonnes.
