National flag carrier THY schedules 19 new flights worldwide

The national flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) will increase the number of flight destinations along with new aircrafts to join its fleet in the upcoming period.

Having opened its newest lines to the Gambia's capital, Banjul, in November, and to Zambia's capital, Lusaka, earlier this month, THY will fly to 19 other international destinations, including Mexico City and Cancun in Mexico, Newark, New Jersey in the United States, and Bali in Indonesia.

With a fleet of 332 aircraft (passenger and cargo), THY flies to 306 destinations in 124 countries across the world, holding the title of the airline that flies to the most number of countries in the world.

As of 2019, new plans will be joining its fleet. In March, the carrier announced it placed firm orders for up to 60 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and Airbus A350-900s.

In total, THY has placed firm orders for 50 new wide-body aircraft with an additional 10 as optional from both manufacturers, comprising 25 firm and five optional orders of each aircraft.

THY, founded in 1933, aims to serve with the world's youngest and largest fleet consisting of more than 400 planes by 2023.The first six aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2019, with a further 14 in 2020, 10 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 11 in 2023 and seven in 2024.

THY's 19 new lines include Newark in the U.S., Mexico City and Cancun in Mexico, Lankaran in Azerbaijan, Krakow in Poland, Nantes in France, La Coruna in Spain, Makhachkala in Russia, Palermo in Italy, Rovaniemi in Finland, Luanda in Angola, Aswan and Luxor in Egypt, Juba in South Sudan, Marrakech in Morocco, Port Sudan in Sudan, Abha in Saudi Arabia, Sharjah in United Arab Emirates, and Denpasar (Bali) in Indonesia.

In the period between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, with TL 13.5 billion ($2.55 billion), Europe took the lead in the geographical distribution of THY's passenger and cargo revenues, which total TL 40.2 billion worldwide, followed by Far East with TL 10.6 billion, the U.S. with TL 6.4 billion, Middle East with TL 5.3 billion, and Africa with TL 4.4 billion. Turkish Airlines carried nearly 70 million passengers over the first 11 months of this year. The total number of passengers the company flew was up 10 percent year-on-year to 69.7 million in the January-November period.