Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10
By Elchin Huseynov – Trend:
Turkish Airlines plans to increase passenger traffic to 64 million people in 2016, which corresponds to the passenger traffic of 2015, the airline’s Chairman Ilker Ayci told reporters in Istanbul Oct. 10.
Following the attempted military coup and a number of terrorist attacks in Turkey, Turkish Airlines brought the number of flights to most of the destinations to the previous level, he said.
According to Ayci, the airline did not face a significant fall in the number of transit passengers flying to other countries through Istanbul.
However, as he said, there has been a decrease in the number of tourists from Germany who chose to spend holidays in Spain, rather than in Turkey.
Tourist flow from France, particularly Bordeaux and Nice, countries of the Middle and Far East, and the US decreased as well, according to Ayci.
However, he said, there has been a growth in passenger traffic from African countries.
Despite the notorious events in Turkey, Turkish Airlines registered two records this year, he said, adding the first record is connected with the number of departing passengers from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport during a day and the second one is connected with the number of departures and arrivals per day.
Ayci also said the airline introduced certain technological innovations, explaining that now passengers can make changes to ticket reservations online using smartphones in case they can’t directly contact the Turkish Airlines.