ANKARA

National flag carrier Turkish Airlines carried 7 million passengers in April, a year-on-year rise of 6.9%, according to a statement at Türkiye's Public Disclosure Platform on Thursday.

The flag carrier posted a 4.5% hike in passengers on international routes, reaching 4.3 million in April. The number of domestic passengers rose 11% to 2.8 million during the same period.

The passenger load factor, or seat occupancy, increased to 80.7%% last month -- 86.5% on domestic flights and 80% on international flights.

The volume of cargo and mail transported by the company surged 34.4% at an annualized pace to 162,483 tons.

By the end of this April, Turkish Airlines flies to 341 destinations with its fleet of 455 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes.

4-month figure

In January-April, the airline carried 25.5 million passengers, marking an 8% rise from last year.

The load factor reached 80.5% in the first four months of this year, the statement said.

Cargo and mail carried soared 35.1% to nearly 640,041 tons in January-April.