Turkish Airlines lifts outlook after strong first half despite cargo decline

Strong demand in the passenger business during the first half has prompted Turkish Airlines to lift its full-year EBITDA expectations, despite a sharp fall in cargo revenues. The carrier has been one of the strongest performers since the Covid crisis and posted a profit of $794m from its main operations in the second quarter. It marked the carrier’s eighth consecutive profitable quarter. Speaking on a Q2 results call on 10 August, Turkish Airlines CFO Murat Seker said: “Our revenue performance in the second quarter saw significant year-on-year improvement, despite strong headwinds from the decelerating global cargo demand and the [February 2023] earthquake impact.” Revenues increased 13.5% to $5.1b – a record for the second quarter. “Passenger revenue increased by 31%,” Seker says. ”I believe that is particularly noteworthy considering the high base we had last year.” It carried 22m passengers over the three months ended 30 June, a 19% increase on the previous year. “As a result of robust international demand, particularly in the Far East and the Americas, total load factor climbed by more than two percentage points to 71.7% – exceeding 2019 levels,” he says. Excluding the financial impact of the earthquake and inflation-driven pay rises, profitability would have been $240m higher in Q2. “This summer is going strongly, demand to Turkey is also strong,” Seker adds. “We are expecting the number of tourists to increase by 17% to reach 60m visitors to Turkey and given our dominance in the Turkish market, we will be able to get the benefits out of it.” Story has more.<br/>