Turkish Airlines' load factor reached a record high in the month of August, at 84.8 per cent, despite the global shrinkage of demand in the aviation sector.

The flag carrier’s international-to-international transfer passenger numbers increased in record numbers with a 9.4 per cent increase compared to the same month of the last year.

Continuing towards its goal of becoming one of the top five air cargo brands in the world with its Turkish Cargo brand, the flag carrier increased its cargo/mail volume by 11.5 per cent compared to the same month last year. Turkish Airlines maintains its two-digit growth numbers at the air cargo market in its new home as well.

August traffic results

• Load factor in August was 84.8 per cent, while domestic load factor was 88.4 per cent and international load factor was 84.3 per cent.

• International-to-international transfer passengers (transit passengers) increased by 9.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. International passengers, excluding the international to international transit passengers, showed a decrease of 0.4 per cent in August.

• In August, cargo/mail volume increased by 11.5 per cent, compared to the same period of 2018. Main contributors to the growth in cargo/mail volume are North America with 24.8 per cent, Far East with 12.2 per cent and Europe with 11.3 per cent increase.

• In August, domestic showed load factor growth of 0.6 points, while North America and Far East increased by 0.4 and 0.3 points respectively.

January-August traffic results

• During January-August, demand was almost flat over the same period last year but total number of passengers carried decreased by 2.1 per cent and total number of passengers carried was around 49.7 million.

• During January-August, total load factor decreased by 0.6 points to 81.2 per cent compared to the same period of last year. International load factor also decreased by 0.8 points to 80.5 per cent, domestic load factor went up by 1.1 point reaching 86.6 per cent.

• International-to-international transfer passengers carried increased by 3.5 per cent.

• Cargo/mail carried during the first eight months of 2019 increased by 9.6 per cent and reach to 985,000 tons. - TradeArabia News Service