With a record 83.4 million passengers in 2023, Turkish Airlines, the flag carrier of Türkiye, has seen its capacity rising by over 27 pc compared to the pre-pandemic peak of 2019.

In a press statement, the carrier says that it managed to register strong growth despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainties. It says that it achieved new milestones in 2023 due to a variety of factors such as outpacing its peers with faster capacity increases, leveraging its agility, extensive flight network, and a highly qualified workforce maintained throughout the pandemic. 

Turkish Airlines says its domestic passenger capacity rose by 23.5 pc compared to 2022, with number of passengers surpassing 30 million, while on international routes, capacity rose by 16 pc and Turkish Airlines carried 53 million passengers with an increase of 14 pc. Notably, it adds, the number of passengers in the European countries with significant Turkish populations climbed by more than 20 pc year-over-year. 

The airline says that while global international airline capacity lagged 12 pc behind the 2019 figures in 2023, as reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Turkish Airlines set itself apart from the industry by exceeding its 2019 international capacity by 27 pc. Moreover, it says that as a result of Türkiye’s investments in aviation infrastructure, Istanbul Airport emerged as the leading European airport in terms of daily number of flights. 

The statement adds that flying to 133 countries in 364 destinations with 24 freighters and 416 passenger aircraft, Turkish Cargo increased its freight tonne kilometers by 16 pc compared to 2019.  Tripling its market share in air freight market in the last 10 years, it stood fourth among the world’s top air cargo carriers according to IATA’s 2023 data, says the airline.

The statement adds that aiming to expand its fleet to 800 aircraft by 2033 as part of its ‘100th Anniversary Strategy’, Turkish Airlines increased its number of aircraft by 12 pc to 440 in 2023, despite global challenges in aircraft procurement and bottlenecks in the aircraft production.