CEO of the Turkish Airlines (THY) said that THY was one of a few airliners making profit during the global financial crisis.

In an interview with the A.A, Temel Kotil said, "I was in Berlin to attend the general assembly meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). I was elected as member of the IATA Executive Board for the third time."

"THY accounts for 1.3 percent of the world aviation with its annual sales and number of passengers. THY was one of a few airliners reaching a 10 percent margin of profit during the global financial crisis," he said.

Kotil said, "THY's number of passengers increased 20.4 percent to 10.9 million in the January-May period of 2010 over the same period last year. Number of passengers in international flights rose 19.5 percent to 5 million in the same period. In the meantime, amount of cargo and mail carried by THY climbed 50.5 percent to 126 thousand tons. We want to make Istanbul a cargo center."

He added that THY became the third best airliner of Europe.
 

AA