Turkish Airlines (THY) carried 73 million passengers in the first nine months of 2026, a 5.2% increase on the 69.4 million it flew in the same period last year, according to traffic figures released on Oct. 9. The data covers both the main brand and its subsidiary AJet.
The flag carrier also filled its planes more efficiently. Its passenger load factor for January-September climbed by 2 percentage points to 85%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, grew 4.4% to 212.2 billion.
International traffic remained the main growth engine. The number of international passengers rose 5.9% to 47.7 million, compared with a 3.9% increase to 25.3 million on domestic routes. The international load factor for the period was 84.8%, while domestic flights averaged 86.7%.
September snapshot
In September alone, THY flew 9 million passengers, up 3.6% year on year. The load factor for the month reached 86.8%, an improvement of 2.2 percentage points, with domestic flights running fuller than international ones at 88.2% versus 86.6%.
Monthly capacity increased 2.5% to 24.6 billion available seat kilometers. International passengers numbered 5.9 million, up 4.8%, while domestic passengers rose 1.5% to 3.1 million.
Cargo and fleet growth
Freight continued to outpace passenger growth. Cargo and mail volumes in September rose 13% to 205,700 tons, and for the first nine months they increased 10.6% to about 1.76 million tons.
The airline's fleet expanded 12.1% year on year to 567 aircraft by the end of September, and the number of destinations served edged up to 358. Further fleet growth is in the pipeline: in late September the carrier finalized an order with Boeing for up to 150 737 MAX jets, its biggest single-aisle purchase from the U.S. manufacturer.
The figures suggest THY is converting moderate capacity growth into higher occupancy, a combination that typically supports unit revenue for airlines, although the company did not comment on financial performance alongside the traffic data.
Sources
- Turkish Airlines carries 73 million passengers in January-September – Hürriyet Daily News
- Turkish Airlines carried 9 million passengers in September 2026 – AJOT
Photo: Arne Müseler / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
