Turkish Airlines carried 92.6 million passengers in 2025 and says it flies to more international destinations than any other airline. Here is the airline in numbers: traffic, money, fleet, its Istanbul hub and how its flights from Europe performed over the past 12 months.
Why this matters: Turkish Airlines connects Europe with Asia, Africa and the Middle East through a single hub, so its growth and its punctuality affect millions of connecting journeys. Most of its international passengers are changing planes in Istanbul.
Key Takeaways
- Passenger numbers rose from 74.3 million in 2019 to 92.6 million in 2025, and the airline carried 81.5 million in the first ten months of 2026, up 4.6%.
- 59% of its international passengers in 2025 were transferring between two international flights in Istanbul.
- On flights departing Europe, Turkish Airlines cancelled just 0.43% of departures, about a quarter of the KLM rate, according to AirAdvisor's flight database.
Turkish Airlines Passenger Numbers, 2019 to 2025
Turkish Airlines publishes its traffic every month, and the annual totals combine the main brand with AJet, its low-cost unit. The chart splits passengers into domestic and international flights.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, 3Q'26 Results Investor Presentation (consolidated figures, Turkish Airlines and AJet).
The airline was back above its 2019 level by 2023 and kept growing: 2025 ended 25% above 2019. International traffic did most of the work, rising from 43.8 million to 60.7 million passengers, while domestic traffic grew more slowly. Capacity grew faster still: available seat kilometres climbed from 188 billion in 2019 to 273 billion in 2025, so the average passenger flew further. The 2025 load factor was 83.2%, up one point on 2024. For the wider picture, see our largest airlines in Europe ranking.
Revenue and Net Profit
Revenue has grown every year since the pandemic, but profit has moved around far more. The figures below are consolidated results in US dollars, as Turkish Airlines reports them to investors.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, 3Q'26 Results Investor Presentation (consolidated figures, Turkish Airlines and AJet).
Revenue reached $24.1 billion in 2025, up 6.3% and 82% above 2019. Net profit fell 15.1% to $2.9 billion. The 2023 peak of $6.0 billion includes a deferred tax gain of $2.4 billion, so it overstates that year's flying profit. Profit from main operations, which leaves out investment and financing items, was $2.2 billion in 2025, down 7.9%.
The trend continued in 2026. Revenue for the first nine months rose 20.2% to $21.4 billion, but net profit fell 15.4% to $1.7 billion. Fuel costs for the period were up 56%, and the company's results presentation names the sharp increase in jet fuel prices as the main reason its margins narrowed. Our airline net profit statistics put these numbers in an industry context.
Monthly Traffic in 2026
The monthly figures show how 2026 has compared with 2025 so far. Watch the gap between the lines in spring and in late summer.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, October 2026 traffic results, published 9 November 2026.
The year started strongly, with March up 16% on March 2025. April and June then came in slightly below 2025, before growth returned in July and August. August 2026 was the busiest month in the two years shown, at just over 10 million passengers. October dipped 0.6% to 8.5 million. Planes flew fuller all year: the load factor reached 88.0% in August and averaged 85.1% for January to October, two points higher than a year earlier.
Where Turkish Airlines Is Adding Seats
Capacity is measured in available seat kilometres (ASK): one seat flown one kilometre. Comparing the first ten months of 2026 with the same months of 2025 shows where the airline moved its aircraft.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, October 2026 traffic results, published 9 November 2026.
The Far East took the largest share of new capacity, up 18.2%, and passengers on those routes rose 18.5%. Middle East capacity moved the other way, down 25.9%, with the steepest falls in April and May 2026, when Middle East capacity was less than half its level a year earlier. Europe remains the biggest market by passengers: 28.9 million people flew between Türkiye and Europe in the first ten months, up 7.8%.
Istanbul as a Transfer Hub
Turkish Airlines' traffic reports separate passengers who change between two international flights in Istanbul. That figure shows how much of the business depends on connections.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, January to December 2025 traffic results.
In 2025, 35.7 million passengers transferred between international flights in Istanbul, up 12.8% on 2024. That is 59% of all international passengers and almost two in five of everyone the airline carried. Transfer traffic grew faster than total traffic, which rose 8.8%. The airline says it served 356 destinations in 132 countries at the end of 2025 and ranks first in the world by number of international destinations; by October 2026 its destination count had reached 358.
Fleet Size and Aircraft Orders
The fleet has grown quickly in 2026. The count below includes Turkish Airlines, AJet and the cargo fleet.
Source: Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, fleet page, accessed 13 November 2026; total matches the October 2026 traffic results.
Turkish Airlines had 571 aircraft in October 2026, up from 504 a year earlier and 516 at the end of 2025. Narrow-body jets make up 399 of them, about 70%, and the 144 wide-body aircraft serve the long-haul network. More are coming. Airbus announced a firm order for 220 aircraft in December 2023, Boeing a firm order for 50 Boeing 787s plus 25 options in September 2025, and in September 2026 the airline disclosed an order for 150 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, 100 firm and 50 options, for delivery from 2033 to 2037. Our fleet size statistics compare this growth with other airlines.
AJet, the Low-Cost Unit
AJet flies mainly from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, the city's second airport, and its results are included in the group totals above. Its numbers show how fast it has grown since it operated as AnadoluJet in 2019.
AJet carried 20.1 million passengers in the first nine months of 2026, up from 17.5 million a year earlier, and had 103 active aircraft, against 31 in 2019. It flew 191 routes, and international flights made up 63.3% of its capacity, compared with 13.3% in 2019. Its share of international landings at Sabiha Gökçen rose to 30%. On flights departing Europe, AJet arrived an hour or more late on 4.08% of departures and cancelled only 0.11%, according to AirAdvisor's flight database.
Istanbul Airport Among Europe's Busiest
Turkish Airlines' main hub is Istanbul Airport (IST). ACI EUROPE's annual traffic report ranks it against the continent's other major airports.
Source: ACI EUROPE, Full Year 2025 Airport Traffic Report, 5 February 2026.
Istanbul handled 84.44 million passengers in 2025, up 5.5%, and finished about 40,000 passengers behind London Heathrow, which grew 0.7%. Turkish Airlines' fact sheet adds that Istanbul had the most average daily flights of any European airport in 2025. Growth slowed in 2026: provisional figures from DHMİ, Türkiye's airport authority, show 71.97 million passengers from January to October, up 1.6%, of whom 56.97 million were on international flights. More airport rankings are in our European airports statistics.
How Often Turkish Airlines Flights from Europe Run Late
AirAdvisor's flight database tracks every flight departing airports in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. This chart compares the share of each airline's departures that arrived an hour or more late with large network airlines and Gulf rivals.
Source: AirAdvisor's flight database, flights departing airports in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026.
Turkish Airlines arrived 60 or more minutes late on 3.3% of its flights from Europe, behind Swiss and Lufthansa but ahead of Air France, KLM, British Airways and Emirates. AJet and SunExpress, a leisure airline in which Turkish Airlines holds 50%, ran late slightly more often. Cirium's On-Time Performance Review 2025 gives a similar picture on a stricter measure: it counted 81.41% of Turkish Airlines flights as on time, within 15 minutes of schedule, which placed it eighth among European airlines. Our airline delay rankings cover 28 European carriers.
Late Departures vs Late Arrivals
A flight can leave late and still arrive close to schedule. Comparing departure and arrival delays shows which airlines make up time on the way.
Source: AirAdvisor's flight database, flights departing airports in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026.
Turkish Airlines left Europe 60 or more minutes late on 4.97% of flights, but only 3.3% arrived that late, so the share of flights running an hour late fell by about a third between take-off and landing. AJet shows the widest gap: 7.9% of departures left an hour late, but only 4.1% arrived that late. For British Airways and Emirates the two figures are almost the same.
Cancellations on Flights from Europe
Cancellations disrupt trips more than delays do, especially for passengers with an onward connection. This chart ranks the same airlines by the share of departures from Europe that were cancelled.
Source: AirAdvisor's flight database, flights departing airports in the EU, UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026.
Turkish Airlines cancelled 0.43% of its departures from Europe, roughly one flight in 230. KLM cancelled 4.3 times as often, and Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France all cancelled 1.3% or more of departures. AJet and SunExpress had even lower rates. For travellers connecting through Istanbul, a low cancellation rate on the first leg reduces the risk of a missed connection.
References and Sources
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, October 2026 Traffic Results (PDF and Excel), published 9 November 2026: investor.turkishairlines.com
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, December 2025 Traffic Results (January to December 2025): investor.turkishairlines.com
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, Fact Sheet 2025, as of 9 April 2026: investor.turkishairlines.com
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, 3Q'26 Results Investor Presentation, results to 30 September 2026: investor.turkishairlines.com
- Turkish Airlines Investor Relations, Fleet, accessed 13 November 2026: investor.turkishairlines.com
- Turkish Airlines, public disclosure "Our Company's aircraft orders as part of its strategic plan", 23 September 2026: investor.turkishairlines.com
- Airbus, "Turkish Airlines to order an additional 220 Airbus aircraft", 15 December 2023: airbus.com
- Boeing, "Turkish Airlines Orders up to 75 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Commits to More 737 MAX Jets", 26 September 2025: boeing.mediaroom.com
- ACI EUROPE, Full Year 2025 Airport Traffic Report, 5 February 2026: aci-europe.org
- DHMİ (General Directorate of State Airports Authority), passenger traffic statistics, end of October 2026 (provisional): dhmi.gov.tr
- Cirium, On-Time Performance Review 2025, 2 January 2026: cirium.com
- AirAdvisor's flight database, airline departures from European airports, 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026, accessed 13 November 2026.
Methodology
Traffic, financial and fleet figures come from Turkish Airlines' investor relations publications and are consolidated: they include the main Turkish Airlines brand and AJet. Annual passenger, capacity and load factor figures for 2019 to 2025 come from the 3Q'26 investor presentation; 2025 passenger detail, including international transfer passengers, comes from the January to December 2025 traffic report; monthly and January to October 2026 figures come from the October 2026 traffic report. Financial figures are in US dollars as reported by the company. Passenger mix shares and the 2019 to 2025 growth rates are AirAdvisor calculations from these reports. Order figures are quoted from the Airbus and Boeing press releases and the airline's 2026 disclosure; options are not firm orders.
Punctuality and cancellation figures come from AirAdvisor's flight database and cover departures from airports in the 27 EU member states plus the UK, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026. Departures from Türkiye are excluded because the database's coverage of them is incomplete. A flight counts as late when it arrived (or departed) 60 or more minutes after schedule; cancellation rates are shares of scheduled departures. The database stores one record per flight number, so codeshare flights appear under each airline that sells them; we therefore publish percentages and leave out raw flight counts. Qatar Airways is left out of the comparison because codeshare codes on partner flights make up a large part of its records. Cirium counts a flight as on time within 15 minutes of schedule, so its figure is not directly comparable with the 60-minute measure. Istanbul Airport's 2025 figure is from ACI EUROPE; its 2026 figure is DHMİ's provisional January to October count. Figures are rounded. All data is historical; no forecasts are used.
