Turkish Airlines (THY) saw a boost in its net profit jump in the first quarter of the year, the national flag carrier said on Thursday, as the travel industry rebounded from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
THY posted a first-quarter net profit of TL 2.2 billion ($161 million), up from TL 438 million a year ago, when cargo revenues helped the company weather a steep drop in passenger numbers prompted by the pandemic.
Last year, it reversed analyst estimates that expected a loss of around TL 350 million in the first quarter. The company had registered a loss of some TL 2 billion in the same period in 2019.
Turkish Airlines’ revenues totaled $3.1 billion in the January-March period, up by 10% versus the same period in 2019, it said.
Constituting some 32% of the total revenues, cargo income soared by 141% over the same period, it noted.
"Despite the increasing oil prices, it managed to achieve a net profit by reducing its total expense item by 2% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2019, with cost-reducing measures," it added.
The carrier served a total of 12.7 million passengers in the first quarter and reached 76% of 2019 levels.
The total capacity in the January-March period reached 91% of 2019 levels, just prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. The carrier had an occupancy rate of 83.6% on domestic flights and 68.6% on international flights from January through March.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), while global international capacity reached 49% of 2019 levels, Europe international capacity reached 64% of the 2019 levels in February 2022.
Turkish Airlines flew some 44.8 million passengers throughout 2021, up from 28 million passengers in 2020. But the figure was still down from 74.3 million in 2019.
According to the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol), Turkish Airlines ranked first in Europe among network carriers during the first quarter of 2022.
The carrier had 372 aircraft as of the end of March – 352 passenger and 20 cargo.
"Turkish Airlines, which was the most flying network carrier in Europe in 2021, maintained its leadership among European network carriers in the first quarter of 2022," it underlined.
The carrier said it partly compensated for diminishing demand on the passenger side with strong cargo performance.
"Our incorporation has made significant contributions to the transportation of medical supplies in the combat against COVID-19 outbreak," it noted.
Turkish Cargo, the cargo arm of THY, aided many nations in the world to access COVID-19 vaccines by delivering 335 million coronavirus jabs to 61 countries last year.
"Especially considering the low number of carriers flying to Africa, Turkish Cargo undertook an important mission to ensure that vaccines remained accessible for people who live in this continent," the company said.
It said cargo revenue increased by 19% during the first quarter of 2022 versus the same period a year ago.
According to data revealed by the IATA, Turkish Cargo was also the fifth-largest air freight carrier in the global market.