Turkish Airlines (THY) carried 49.7 million passengers in the first eight months of 2019, the flag carrier announced on Wednesday. The number of passengers carried by THY decreased by 2.1% year-on-year in the January-August period, according to a report posted on the website of a public disclosure platform. While the number of passengers carried in domestic flights shrank by 7.2%, passengers on international routes rose 1.9% during the same period. The seat occupancy rate dropped by 0.6 percentage points to 81.2% in the eight month period, versus the same period last year.Available seat kilometers (ASK) offered by the company increased 0.7% on a yearly basis to reach nearly 124 million in the January-August period. Meanwhile, the cargo/mail carried last month surged 9.6% to 985,228 tons. The number of passengers carried by Turkish Airlines posted a decrease of 1.8% year-on-year in August, standing at 7.4 million.

The seat occupancy rate also decreased in the month by 0.8 of a point to 84.8%, the report showed. While the number of passengers carried in domestic flights fell 10.7%, international passengers rose 4.6% during the same period. Turkish Airlines carried 130,151 tons of cargo/mail in the last month, increasing by 11.5% from August 2018.

In 2018, THY carried 75.2 million passengers, indicating an annual rise of 10%. The airline's seat occupancy rate last year was 82%. This year, the company aims to carry 80 million passengers on domestic and international routes.

Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933 with only five aircraft, currently has 343 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes, and flies to 315 destinations worldwide in 126 countries.