THE combined number of domestic and international Turkish Airlines (THY) passengers reached over 41 million in the first nine months of this year, the company has said.

In their statement to Borsa İstanbul (BIST), THY said the carrier enjoyed a 14.3 percent year-on-year rise in the number of passengers between January and September.

The company carried 41.4 million customers in the first nine months of this year, while this figure was 36.2 million in the same months of 2013. The figures arrive on the heels of a decline in THY’s profitability despite rising sales.

THY’s net loss widened to TL 226.3 million ($110 million) in the first quarter of this year, ten times the loss of a year ago, the company said previously. The firm attributed the loss to tough competition from low-cost competitors.

While the rise in the number of domestic-flight passengers rose by 14.9 percent, the number of passengers on international flights increased by 14 percent.

However, the rate of seat occupancy remained unchanged from last year’s rate at 79.7 percent.

The total number of the company’s flight destinations has reached 260 cities as of September of this year, including 43 domestic and 217 international cities, up from 239 in 2013.

The number of aircraft the company possesses reached 265 in September, increasing by 32 since 2013. The THY fleet is composed of 56 wide-bodied, 200 narrow-bodied and nine cargo aircraft.