Turkish Airlines
| © AFP

Turkish Airlines’ financial performance has been going from strength to strength in recent times. Over the previous year, Turkish Airlines has been making a profit for three consecutive quarters from the quarter ending March 31st, 2022. Net profit rose from $161 million US dollars in the three months to March 31st, 2022, to $576 million US dollars in the 3 months up to June 30th, 2022, and $1.515 billion US dollars in the three months leading up to September 30th, 2022.

Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines has had profits going in an upward trajectory in 2022. © Nicolas Economou / Getty Images

Turkish Airlines’ Financial Performance

The success of Turkish Airlines’ financial performance also continued, with a net profit of $2.725 billion US dollars in the year ending December 31st, 2022. This is almost 3 times higher than the $959 million US dollars in profit made in the year ending December 31st, 2021. This shows that the carrier has significantly improved its profit from the previous year.

Like many, Turkish Airlines’ financial performance suffered during the Covid pandemic with drastically reduced operations as restrictions put in place dramatically reduced flight demand. In addition, during the aftermath of the pandemic, when restrictions were lifted, there was a surge in demand for flights, and many airports could not cope as a lot of staff had been laid off during the pandemic. This resulted in mass delays and cancellations which hampered the recovery effort for many airlines.

Turkish Airlines, however, has had a positive record in its financial performance and its commitment to safeguarding the environment. Indeed, Turkish Airlines’ financial performance may have also resulted from its valued contribution to the environment. The airline was one of the pioneers in the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The use of SAF significantly improves an airline’s carbon footprint as it consists mainly of ethanol and other plant-based materials, which results in significantly lower emissions of carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming. In addition, poisonous gasses, such as nitrous oxide as well as those containing heavy metal molecules, are also greatly reduced.

Turkish Airlines A321
Türkiye Hava Yolları is actively contributing to environmental protection through the use of SAF. © Wikimedia Commons

Turkish Airlines’ Revenue

Turkish Airlines’ financial performance has also improved the company’s revenue (total money received). In the year ending December 31st, 2022, the company made 18.426 billion US dollars when compared to 10.686 billion US dollars for the year ending December 31st, 2021. This is approximately a 72% increase in the airline’s revenue in 2022 when compared to 2021. This indicates that Turkish Airlines was able to attract more customers in 2022.

Profit, however, has increased to a greater extent than revenue showing the carrier is also improving in cost control. This bodes well, especially since it has had to deal with operational issues (such as disruption to flight plans) caused by the war in Ukraine and the subsequent rise in fuel prices (which would have also affected SAF).

Turkish Airlines’ financial performance improved significantly over the year in 2022, and the whole was significantly better than its performance in 2021. It is clear that Turkish Airlines has done well since the pandemic restrictions have been lifted and has also been contributing positively to its adoption of SAF. We have to wait to see how this progresses.

What do you think about the financial performance of Turkish Airlines? Do you think they can keep it up in 2023? Let us know in the comments.