Turkish Airlines passenger numbers up in Jan-July

The total number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines rose 4.6 percent between January and July 2017 compared to the same period last year, the airline announced Friday.

Turkey's national flag carrier carried 37.5 million passengers in the first seven months of the year, the company said in a statement sent to Turkey's Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).

The numbers of passengers carried in domestic and international flights were up 5.6 and 3.8 percent, respectively.

The airline said seat occupancy increased by 3.8 percentage points to 77.4 percent in the same period.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines saw a 24.3 percent hike in the number of passengers carried last month -- 7.2 million -- up from 5.8 million passengers in July 2016.

The airline noted that 83.3 percent of the company's passenger carrying capacity was used in July, marking an increase of 10.5 percentage points compared to same month last year.

In the KAP statement, the airline also announced that the company earned $4.6 billion total revenue in the first half of 2017.

Turkish Airlines flies to 300 destinations in 120 countries, including 251 international and 49 domestic destinations.

By the end of July 2017, the company had 331 aircraft, of which 90 were wide-body while the number of narrow-body aircraft and cargo planes were 226 and 15, respectively.

Last year, Turkish Airlines carried 62.8 million passengers, up 2.5 percent from 61.2 million passengers in 2015.