Turkish Airlines announce profit of TL 253 trillion

The results show an 84 percent increase over a 2002 pre-tax profit of 137.3 trillion lira (USD$104 million). The figure does not take into account inflation, which stood at 13.9 percent for wholesale prices at the end of 2003.

"The measures THY took in the second half of the year resulted in an increase in passenger numbers, and it finished the year with record profits," the airline said in a statement. "THY finished the first six months of [2003] with small losses due to the war in Iraq and the SARS virus," the statement said.

The measures in the second half included a discount of 30 percent on domestic flights and around 10 percent on flights abroad, it said.

The number of passengers who flew THY last year was 10.4 million, the airline said. Revenues from domestic and international flights were nearly 2,400 trillion lira (USD$1.82 billion).

The airliner is slated for privatization under an IMF-backed program.