Turkish Airlines has announced that it aims to carry up to 74 million passengers in 2018.
"The 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 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 Available Seat Kilometers (ASK), which measures an airline's total passenger capacity in kilometers.
"Capacity [ASK] increase is expected to be 10 percent in Turkey, 9 percent in the Middle East, 6 percent in Europe, 6 percent in the 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 yew year, adding the volume of cargo/mail carried was expected to increase by 21 percent, reaching 1.3 million tons.
THY has announced the highest third-quarter profit in its history, with a real operating profit of $939 million in the third quarter of this year as a result of fiscal discipline.
Passenger and cargo revenues increased in the third quarter, compared to the same period of the previous year, while total revenues increased by 23 percent to $3.6 billion. Total revenue achieved in the first nine months of the year increased by 8 percent to $8.2 billion.
THY is one of the most valuable brand ambassadors of Turkey, and flies to 300 destinations with 49 domestic and 251 international flights in 120 countries, including the routes opened this year such as Samara and Phuket.
The THY fleet, which is among the youngest in the world, today has a total of 329 aircraft, including 223 narrow-body, 90 wide-body and 16 cargo aircrafts.
