A strong rise in cargo revenues helped Turkish Airlines end 2020 with a profitable final quarter at an operating level, though the carrier still posted a net loss of $836m for the full-year. While the carrier’s passenger revenues slumped by two-thirds for the three months ended December 2020, to $876m, Turkish Airlines increased its cargo revenues almost four-fifths to reach $841m. This helped the carrier post an operating profit of $61m for Q4, though it slipped to a net loss of $50m for the same period. For the full-year, Turkish Airlines cargo revenues climbed 61%, to $2.7b, helping to counter a 66% fall in passenger revenues, to $3.8b. As a result Turkish Airlines revenues were down by just under half for 2020 at $6.7b. The improved cargo performance could not prevent the carrier posting an operating loss of $530m for the full year and a net loss of $836m. That compares with an operating profit of $585m and net profit of $788m in 2019. ”Cargo operations are continuing at full capacity with freighters and more than 10 widebody passenger aircraft are being utilised for cargo operations,” the airline says. <br/>
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Thai Airways International said Tuesday it is cutting its workforce by half and reducing its fleet size to become a more agile and efficient airline, as the troubled flag carrier submitted its turnaround plan, officials said. The airline was in difficulty well before the coronavirus pandemic grounded flights across the globe, booking losses nearly every year after 2012, with a record loss of 141.1b baht ($4.66b) last year. The carrier plans to maintain 13,000 to 15,000 employees on its books by 2025, acting president, Chansin Treenuchagron told a briefing, adding the move would make it more agile. It currently has about 19,500 full-time employees, down from 28,000 in 2019, and expects 6,000 to leave the company by the end of this year. These reductions are part of initiatives such as re-negotiating leases that will save the airline 52b baht by 2022, he said. “Thai Airways faced problems from intense competition from low budget carriers, open skies policies and then the global pandemic,” he said. The announcement came after the airline last month cut 240 management positions and reduced supervisory levels from eight to five to increase efficiency.<br/>
Avianca temporarily suspended 25 international routes since March 1 due to the new COVID-19 travel restrictions in many countries. The South American carrier closed 12 international routes from Bogotá, four from San Salvador, four from Quito, three from Guatemala, and one from Cali and Medellín. In a statement, Avianca said, “Due to the new travel restrictions in some countries and the uncertainty from our travelers in the current COVID-19 environment, we have adjusted our schedules.” Story lists routes. The carrier said that it will look carefully at each market to see when it will restart these routes. For instance, it expects that some routes may be reopened before the first quarter ends but will not operate others until April and June. In January 2021, Avianca transported 7.67m passengers on all its routes. This number was an increase from the 7.61m it had in December 2020. Nevertheless, the international market suffered a decrease, going from 2.09m at the end of last year to 1.91m. The new travel restrictions worldwide came at a time when Avianca was taking off after months of inactivity. Avianca was fully grounded between April and August, restarting operations in September, when it transported 1.65m passengers.<br/>