The airline has reported a total net profit of $1.07 billion having generated sales revenue of $10.522 billion in 2015.

The profit was largely driven by a 32% increase in profit from main operations, which saw Turkish record a total of $859 million.

The airline also grew passenger numbers by 13.6% to 61.2 million carried on 453,000 flights, giving a load factor of 78%.

It meant Turkish Airlines was able to generate $2.6 billion in EBITDAR with a 24.5% margin, up by 5.7% on the previous year.

Ilker Aycı, Turkish Airlines’ chairman of the board and the executive committee’ said: “Turkish Airlines has reinforced its position among the most profitable airlines with these financial results.

“It has been a challenging year with fierce competition in the global aviation industry, combined with political and economic instabilities and significant currency fluctuations.”

The airline operates routes to 49 domestic destinations and 235 international ones in 113 countries round the world.

It now operates 304 aircraft comprising 75 wide body, 219 narrow body and 10 cargo aircraft.