Turkish Airlines to reach 77M passengers at year-end

KONYA, Turkey

Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines expects to hit 77 million passengers by the end of this year, said the company’s chief executive officer on Wednesday.

"Last year, we carried 75.2 million passengers and we continue to grow," said Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines' CEO.

He noted that in December the company will launch new flights to Rovaniemi in Finland and Xi'an in China.

"Turkish Airlines has grown sixfold since 2003," he said, adding that it is the world's largest airline company in terms of fleet capacity.

Eksi added that a third runway will be built in 2020 at the Istanbul Airport.

* Writing by Aysu Bicer