Turkish Airlines runs $1.5B profit in 3rd quarter

By Tuba Ongun

Turkish Airlines posted a $1.5 billion net profit in the third quarter of 2024, down 19.6% from the same period last year, it said Tuesday.

Revenues of the national flag carrier rose 4.9% at an annualized pace to $6.6 billion in July-September.

"Despite ongoing global geopolitical tensions, bottlenecks in aircraft production, and engine problems, Turkish Airlines continued its growth uninterruptedly thanks to its agility and extensive flight network, increasing passenger capacity by 5.4% in the third quarter of 2024," the carrier said in a statement.

The airline carried 24.5 million passengers during the three-month period.

Passenger revenues, which accounted for 84% of the total, increased to $5.6 billion led by strong demand from the Far East region.

Third-quarter cargo revenues enjoyed a 47% annual surge, reaching $911 million.

"Due to competitive pressure on passenger unit revenues along with the negative impacts of global inflationary environment and engine problems on costs, Profit from Main Operations (were) recorded as $1.3 billion in the third quarter of 2024," it said.

EBITDAR (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rent) amounted to $2.3 billion, with the EBITDAR margin standing at 35.2%.

In the first nine months of this year, Turkish Airlines increased its number of aircraft 9% to 467 "in spite of bottlenecks in aircraft production."

The company posted a $2.7 billion net profit in January-September, slightly down from a year ago.