National flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) on Thursday announced a new chair of the board and a new chief executive.

Murat Şeker is replacing Ahmet Bolat as THY's chair of the board, the company said in a statement to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).

Ahmet Olmuştur has been named the new CEO of the carrier, replacing Bilal Ekşi, the statement said.

Both Bolat and Ekşi are said to retire.

Şeker has been serving as the chief financial officer of the carrier since 2016, while Olmuştur has been serving as the chief commercial officer.

Turkish Airlines also said Metin Gülşen had been appointed as the chief financial officer and Harun Baştürk as chief commercial officer.

The announcement came after separate data on Thursday showed THY's passenger count rose 16% year-over-year in March to 7.2 million.

The January-March figure jumped 12.7% from a year ago to 21.3 million.

Its occupancy rate rose by 6.1 points to 83.6%, while the first-quarter rate marked a 2.9-point increase to 83.5%.