Turkish Airlines just published their passenger and cargo figures for 2015. These show once again that the Turkish national carrier continues its worldwide expansion and aim to make its base in Istanbul a major worldwide hub.
What started off many years ago as a relatively small regional and domestic carrier, has developed into one of the world’s big aviation players.
This is apparent when one looks at the 2015 figures, which were released last week.
The passenger expansion outweighs that of the cargo department, but cargo developments also continue their steady rise.
Passenger figures rise for tenth year in a row
January to December 2015 showed passengers transported on TK’s domestic and international routes rising by almost 12 percent compared to the year before.
Total passengers carried amounted to 61.2 million.
The rise in domestic passenger transport was 15.7percent and on the international sectors 9 percent.
Interesting to note is that the transit passenger (international to international) rose by a staggering 18.1 percent in comparison to 2014.
This according to Turkish sources proves once again the importance of Istanbul as a major and expanding hub in the region.
Cargo holds its own
Turkish Airlines offers quite some cargo capacity on its worldwide passenger routes as well as in the main cabin and bellies of its all-cargo fleet.
It operates seven A330 freighters on routes from Istanbul to the Far East, Africa and Europe.
According to Airbus statistics, there are a further three A330Fs on their order books which are destined for Turkish Cargo.
Cargo capacity for the freighter fleet is complemented by the 27 A330-300 passenger aircraft, which are deployed on international routes.
Turkish Cargo which was ISO 9001 certified in 2008 carried 720,440 tons of cargo in 2015 compared to 662,689 tons the year before.
This represents an increase of just under 10 percent.
Fleet growth continues unabated
The overall Turkish Airlines fleet grew in 2015 from 261 to 299 aircraft.
The wide-body fleet rose to 73 aircraft, an increase of 33 percent and the narrow bodies rose from 197 to 216.
The airline which employs over 19,000 staff and has an estimated turnover above US$10 billion, also has aircraft orders with Boeing and Airbus for a further 200 units. These are mainly for the
Airbus A321neo and Boeing 737max versions.
John Mc Donagh
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