Focus on freight
Turkish Cargo continuing to soar. 2023 is a special year for Turkish Airlines. The national carrier is celebrating its 90th anniversary on 20 May, and will also be involved in the celebrations for the 100th birthday of the Republic of Turkey on 29 October. Its market share should continue to grow till then.
The calendar year began with a natural disaster in Turkey, and Turkish Airlines made a massive financial (EUR 100 million) and material contribution to overcome it. Ahmet Bolat, chairman of the board of directors and of the executive committee of Turkish Airlines, said on 2 March that “it’s our responsibility as the flag carrier to stand by our nation, as we’ve done in previous crises too. After the Kahramanmaras earthquake on 6 February we invested resources to operate more than 2,400 flights, bring 433,000 search and rescue personnel and 16,000 t of relief material to the region, and evacuate 430,000 citizens.”
Another record year for the flag carrier
The airline did so with the 403 aircraft at its disposal, including two B747Fs, eight B777Fs, ten A330Fs and two A310Fs, which also contributed to 2022’s net profit of USD 2.7 billion (+184% compared to 2021 and +245% compared to 2019).
Thus Turkish Airlines has once again completed a record year. Cargo and postal revenues, which account for one fifth of total revenues, increased by 120% compared to 2019, to USD 3.7 billion.
Total tonnage (1.667 million t) improved by 10.3% compared to 2019. There was particular growth in trades with Latin America (+57% to 56,000 t) and North America (+44% to 204,000 t). The two highest-volume trade routes also increased their volumes – one to the Far East (+18% to 559,000 t) and one to Europe (+2.1% to 509,000 t).
Whilst the exchange of goods with Africa was virtually unchanged at 128,000 t in volume, there were only two sales regions with declining figures, namely the Middle East (–7.8% to 153,000 t) and Turkey itself (–17% to 58,000 t).
Now No. 5 in the cargo world
“In the last ten years our company has quadrupled its market share in the global airfreight industry, and now ranks no lower than fifth in the world, according to Iata,” Bolat continued.
The chairman believes Turkish Airlines is poised for great future growth in this business, after it concentrated its operations at Istanbul airport’s new ‘Smartist’ cargo terminal a year ago (see also ITJ Daily of 9 February 2022).
These facilities support the geographical advantage the airline derives from its location. Indeed, more than 50 countries can be reached with a four-hour flight from Istanbul.