Tourism key as Turkish carriers target growth return in 2020

A mixed picture in which tourism grew strongly but domestic traffic was sharply down lay behind the first year in a decade in which annual passenger numbers fell at Turkey’s two biggest carriers in 2019. Turkish Airlines’ passenger numbers fell 1.1% in 2019 in carrying 74.3m, while Pegasus Airlines passenger levels dipped 0.3% to just under 30m. The lower overall levels reflected much reduced capacity and traffic in the domestic market. Turkish Airlines’ domestic passenger numbers fell 7.5% to 30.4m. Load factor though increased almost a point as traffic measured in RPKs fell less sharply than the 6.9% cut in domestic capacity. By contrast the carrier’s international passenger numbers climbed 3.8% to 43.8m during the year. <br/>