Turkish Air rallies after cargo deal with Chinese partners

Turkey’s flag-carrier airline reversed a nine-day losing streak as it agreed to an e-commerce cargo joint venture with partners from China and Hong Kong. Turkish Airlines signed the deal with Chinese delivery giant ZTO Express Cayman and Hong Kong’s PAL Air, a unit of Pacific Air Holdings. The joint venture, to be based in Hong Kong, will have revenues of at least $2b in the five years to 2023, Turkish Airlines Chairman Ilker Ayci said Monday. The venture aims to cut worldwide door-to-door delivery times to as little as 72 hours, ZTO founder and CEO Lai Meisong said. The deal comes as Chinese tech company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. buys 10% of Shanghai-based ZTO for $1.4b. “The month of Ramadan is usually a slow month for passenger traffic,” said Ayci, whose company flies to 304 destinations, more than than any other airline in the world. “But we are doing everything to prop up the stock.”<br/>