National flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) announced Friday that it aimed to carry 78 million-80 million passengers in 2020, mostly on international routes.

"The target is to reach 78 million-80 million total passengers carried, including 31.5 million-33 million on domestic routes and 46 million-47 million on international routes," it said in a filing posted on Borsa Istanbul's public disclosure platform.

The flag carrier expects a passenger load factor of 81-82% while seeing an 8.5-10% rise in total available seat kilometers (ASK).

"Capacity (ASK) increase is expected to be 7% in Turkey, 7% in the Middle East, 2% in Europe, 17% in the Far East, 16% in the Americas and 10% in Africa," the company said.

It also looks to increase cargo/mail shipping by 7-8%, reaching 1.60 million-1.65 million tons. The company added that it aims to generate $14.5 billion-14.8 billion in consolidated sales revenue this year.

Average jet fuel – including fuel hedge – is expected to be $690-$700 per ton in 2020, adding that the cost per ASK, excluding fuel, would remain unchanged from last year's levels.

Turkish Airlines carried over 74.3 million passengers in 2019. The number was 1.1% lower compared to 2018, when it served a total of 75.1 million passengers, according to the company's traffic data.

It saw a 3.8% increase in passengers on international flights, while passengers on domestic flights declined by 7.5% year-on-year. Its number of transit passengers surged by 5.4% year-on-year to nearly 24.57 million.