Turkish Airlines posts $161 million profit in first quarter

Turkish Airlines swung a net income of $161 million in the first quarter of 2022 from a net loss of $229 million in January-March 2019.

Total revenues of the flag carrier grew more than 10 percent in the first three months of this year compared to the first quarter of 2019 to reach $3.05 billion.

The company's financials showed that the profit from main operations was $163 million.

Passenger revenues fell 12.5 percent to $1.99 billion but revenues from cargo operations soared more than 141 percent to $980 million. Net operating profit was $144 million in the first three months of 2022 versus a net loss of $203 million two years ago in the same period.

In its earnings presentation sent to Borsa Istanbul, Turkish Airlines said its fuel expenses jumped 12 percent to $957 million, but personnel costs dropped 14 percent to $443 million. Fuel and personnel expenditures accounted for 33 percent and 15 percent of all costs.

Some 40 percent of its revenues were in U.S. dollars, 22 percent in euro, while nearly 60 percent of the carrier's expenses were in the dollars.

Turkish Cargo, which flies to 128 countries, increased its share in global market from 4.7 percent in 2020 to 5.2 percent in 2021.

In the first quarter of this year, the carrier served a total of 12.7 million passengers -7.6 million international and 5.1 million domestic travelers- down from 16.7mn passengers two years ago.

The total load factor came down from 80.1 percent to 70.2 percent.

In 2021, Turkish Airlines carried 44.8 million passengers, up from 28 million in 2020 when the pandemic dealt a huge blow to global travel and tourism industries. In 2019, the company served 74.3 million people.

As of end-March, the carrier had 373...