The number of passengers Turkish Airlines (THY) carried in June rose by 13% y/y to 5.72mn, following the 8% annual growth experienced in April and 5% in May, the company said on July 11 in a bourse filing.

THY’s year-on-year passenger figures shrank in the first three months of the year. However, the national flag carrier has now reported passenger growth for three months in a row from April to June thanks to the start of the tourism season.

Across H1, the number of passengers rose by 0.7% y/y to 30.3mn. Domestic passenger volume rose by 1.6% y/y to 13.3mn, while the international passenger figure rose 0.1% y/y to 17mn.

The load factor rose to 76% over the first half from 73.6% a year ago while the available seat kilometre (ASK) figure was down 2% y/y to 81bn.

The number of aircraft in the carrier’s fleet decreased from 338 in May to 336 in June.

On May 29, Bloomberg cited unnamed sources in reporting that THY was seeking options to finance a move from its hub to Istanbul’s third airport, expected to go operational by the end of 2018.

THY’s net loss rose by 15% y/y to TRY1.42bn (€342mn) in Q1. The number of passengers THY carried in Q1 declined by 8% y/y to 13mn.

As of July 5, the US dropped its cabin electronics ban against Turkey's national carrier which had been effective since March 22. “We also expect the electronic devices ban on the UK flights to be lifted soon,” Bilal Eksi, general manager of THY, said on July 5.

A sharp decline in foreign tourist visits as a result of anxiety over terror attacks in Turkey and tensions with Russia that led to charter flight restrictions also impacted THY during 2016. In June last year, 45 people died in an attack on Ataturk Airport blamed on Islamic State.

The number of passengers THY served increased by 2.3% to 62.8mn last year, easing from an average yearly gain of 17% between 2011 and 2015. The carrier posted a net loss of TRY47mn in 2016, its first loss in more than a decade.

The airline is targeting 69mn passengers - 32mn domestic and 27mn international - in 2017. Its revenue target for this year is $10.1bn.