Turkish Airlines carries over 5M passengers in February

The total number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines rose by 26 percent, reaching 5.1 million passengers in February compared to the same month last year, the flag carrier said Monday.

"The 5 million passenger level was exceeded for the first time in Turkish Airlines history in the month of February," according to an airline statement.

It added the airline's passenger load factor or seat occupancy increased 6.4 percentage points to 79.7 percent.

During January-February, the total number of passengers carried by the flag carrier climbed 31 percent over the same period last year to reach 10.8 million, said the statement.

It said the number of international passengers rose 27 percent, with the exception of international-to-international transfer passengers -- transit passengers.

The cargo/mail volume also grew 39.4 percent year-on-year in February and 44 percent in the first 2 months of 2018, compared to the same period in 2017, the statement said.

In 2017, Turkish Airlines carried 68.6 million passengers.

The airline flies to over 300 destinations -- 252 international and 49 domestic -- worldwide with its fleet of more than 330 passenger and cargo aircraft.

From 2011 to 2016, the world airline survey Skytrax named Turkish Airlines the best airline in Europe.