Surging passenger revenue helps Turkish Airlines continue strong profit run

Turkish Airlines continued its strong post-pandemic profit run, as double-digit increases in passengers and revenue pushed it to a full-year 2023 operating profit of almost $2.9b. That figure, which excludes the impact of investment activities, was up 3% from 2022. Turkish’s 2023 profit including investment activities hit $4b, up from $3.2b in 2022. While the airline doubled its net profit to more than $6b for the year, that includes a tax gain of $3b related to inflation accounting. Excluding that, the airline’s net profit climbed 7% to $2.9b in 2023. The results come off the back of surging revenue, which jumped 14% year on year to $20.9b in 2023. That was led by a 24% year-on-year jump in passenger revenue, which hit $17.7b last year. Turkish’s passenger numbers increased 16% in one year to 83.4m in 2023, surpassing its previous high of 75m passengers in 2018. Notably, international travellers comprised a greater proportion of the airline’s total passengers than before the pandemic. Turkish carried 53m international passengers in 2023, one quarter more than it did in its previous high of 2018. Cargo revenue, which climbed sharply during the pandemic, fell 30% year on year to $2.6b in 2023. That figure remains about $1b more than Turkish generated from carrying cargo in 2019, before the pandemic.<br/>