Turkish Cargo, a division of flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), has added Portugal's second-largest city Porto to its cargo flight network, the company announced Friday.

The cargo flights will be carried out on a weekly basis as of Sunday, May 12, on the Istanbul-Madrid-Porto-Istanbul route, Turkish Cargo said in a statement. "Porto, the recently launched destination of the accomplished air cargo brand, is not only one of the most important industrial ports of Europe but also a vital exports point," it said.

Turkish Cargo, which was rebranded in 2000, carried a total of 1.4 million tons cargo in 2018, ranking among the top 10 international air cargo carriers, based on World Air Cargo Data (WACD).

In 2018, Turkish Cargo reached more than 300 destinations in the world and carried 1.4 million tons of cargo and currently carries freight to 124 countries.

Turkish Cargo increased its cargo tonnage by 9.6 percent in January and February despite the contraction in the global market, when the air cargo market shrank by 5.8 percent.

Namely, in the first two months of the year, global demand declined by 5.7 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Turkish Cargo rose to seventh in the World Air Cargo Data (WACD) list.