#THY third fastest growing European airline company

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) recently announced that the number of passengers transported by its 32 member companies was down 5.4 million in 2008 to 366 million, marking the first retreat during an economic crisis. The AEA said over the last 25 years, the figures had only decreased when a nuclear power plant melted down in Chernobyl and after the Sept. 11 attacks. THY was able to increase its passenger numbers by 15.6 percent last year to 21.87 million while increasing its passenger capacity by 11.6 percent with new additions to its fleet. Slovenia’s Adria was the fastest growing airline, with a 16.7 percent growth rate. It was followed by Ukrainian AEROSVIT, which grew by 16.5 percent.

THY is Europe’s seventh largest airline in terms of passenger numbers, taking over the spot from Alitalia, which is experiencing difficulties and was only able to survive after intervention by the Italian government. THY ranked behind Lufthansa (54.7 million), Air France (50 million), British Airways (33.7 million), SAS Scandinavian (25.4 million), KLM (23.8 million) and Iberia (22.8 million).