Despite the effects of the crisis caused by the epidemic, Turkish Airlines (THY) managed to complete the fourth quarter of 2021 with an operating profit of $619 million and a net profit of $225 million, during a difficult period when the aviation industry suffered the most severe crisis due to the coronavirus epidemic.
THY’s total revenues in the fourth quarter of last year, with $3.3 billion, exceeded its total revenues in the same period of 2019, which refers to the period before the epidemic.
172% INCREASE IN CARGO REVENUES
Cargo revenues, which make up 39% of the total revenue, increased by 172% in the quarter compared to the same period of 2019. Despite all the difficulties caused by the crisis caused by the epidemic on demand, THY managed to achieve a net profit by reducing its total expense item by 12% in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2019, thanks to cost-reducing measures.
As a result, EBITDA (Earning before interest, tax, depreciation and rent – EBITDAR), which points to THY’s cash generation potential, increased by 39% compared to the same period of 2019 and reached $1,242 million, and its EBITDA margin increased by 10.3 points to 37.5%.
13.7 MILLION PASSENGERS
While THY’s passenger capacity last year reached 84% of the same period of 2019, the passenger load factor was 79% in domestic flights and 69% in international lines in the fourth quarter of 2021. A total of 13.7 million passengers were carried last year.
THY has strengthened its identity as a global airline thanks to its wide flight network, strong tariff structure and superior hygiene standards in these difficult days, and capacity shifts to other profitable lines have been accomplished in this process, instead of the lines that were closed. As of the end of December, the company, which has a total of 370 aircraft, 246 narrow-body, 104 wide-body and 20 cargo aircraft, maintained its leadership among European network carriers in 2021.
FIFTH LARGEST CARGO CARRIER
Turning the crisis period into an opportunity with the contribution of cargo transportation during the epidemic process and opening the wide-body passenger planes in its fleet to the service of Turkish Cargo, THY became the world’s 5th largest air cargo carrier in the cargo market, excluding integrators, according to the data of 2021. Together with THY’s subsidiaries, it provides employment to approximately 60 thousand people.
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem / Translated by Irem Yildiz