Turkish Airlines carried 9.5 million passengers in July

Turkish Airlines said on Wednesday that it carried 9.5 million passengers in July, with traffic and cargo volumes rising from a year earlier as the carrier moved through one of the busiest months of the summer travel season.

The airline, which released its monthly traffic figures from Istanbul, said its load factor reached 86.5% in July. On international flights, the load factor was 86.2%, while domestic flights posted a higher 89.1%. The figures cover the main Turkish Airlines brand as well as AJet, the group’s low-cost unit.

The carrier also reported an increase in capacity. Available seat kilometers, a standard industry measure of seats offered over distance flown, rose 2.7% from 25.0 billion in July 2025 to 25.7 billion in July 2026. At the same time, cargo and mail traffic climbed 4.9% from a year earlier to 203,100 tons.

The July results add to a broader rise in traffic during the first seven months of the year. From January through July, Turkish Airlines carried 54 million passengers, up 5.4% from the same period in 2025. Over that period, the overall load factor stood at 84.2%, with international flights at 84% and domestic flights at 85.7%.

Capacity growth also continued through the first seven months of the year. Available seat kilometers increased 4.7% to 161.2 billion, up from 154.0 billion in the same period of 2025. Cargo and mail traffic for January through July rose 12%, reaching 1.4 million tons, compared with 1.2 million tons a year earlier.

Turkish Airlines said its fleet stood at 563 aircraft at the end of July. The company’s traffic disclosure said the reported results were consolidated and included both Turkish Airlines and AJet operations, giving a fuller picture of the group’s passenger and cargo business.

The latest data point to continued expansion in both the airline’s core passenger network and its freight business at a time when carriers are closely tracking demand, aircraft utilization and yield across international and domestic markets. Turkish Airlines did not provide revenue figures in the traffic release, but the passenger totals, load factors and cargo growth suggest the group maintained a high level of activity through the middle of the year.

The airline is one of the largest global carriers by country coverage and has built much of its long-haul strategy around its hub in Istanbul, linking Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East with onward service to the Americas. According to company information released with the traffic statement, Turkish Airlines serves 358 destinations worldwide, including 305 international points and 53 domestic ones across 133 countries. The airline is also a member of Star Alliance.

For the travel industry, the July figures are a closely watched indicator because they arrive during the peak Northern Hemisphere holiday period, when airlines typically rely on strong international leisure traffic and steady domestic demand to support annual performance. Turkish Airlines’ occupancy rate above 86% for the month shows that most seats were filled even as the airline continued to add capacity.

Its cargo business also remained a notable part of the picture. The 4.9% increase in July cargo and mail volumes, followed by a 12% rise for the January-to-July period, shows that the group’s freight activity kept growing alongside passenger operations. For global airlines, cargo has remained an important business line not only for dedicated freighter operations but also for belly-hold capacity on passenger flights.

The release did not break down performance by region or route, and it did not specify how much of the traffic growth came from Turkish Airlines’ mainline operation compared with AJet. Still, the group figures show steady year-over-year increases across most of the key operating indicators that investors, airports and tourism markets monitor, including passenger numbers, capacity, load factor and freight volumes.

Turkish Airlines was founded in 1933 with five aircraft. In the decades since, it has grown into one of the most extensive international networks in commercial aviation, with Istanbul serving as the center of its transfer model. The latest monthly results show that the airline continued to expand that network in 2026 while keeping load factors at levels that remain high by industry standards.