HP News Desk
According to a French financial newspaper, Turkish Airlines has been the “biggest winner” as global aviation and tourism company after being abruptly halted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Turkish airline has become the first international carrier to return to profitability in 2021 as European air travel has picked up and is on track for record profits in 2022, according to a report by Los Echos this week.
The airline made a net income of $737 million in the half of 2022. In July alone, Turkish Airlines carried 7.8 million passengers, up 10% from July 2019, the month of peak of travel in the last pre-pandemic summer.
It is now Europe’s busiest traditional airline, with an average of 1,506 daily flights in European airspace in early August, far ahead of Lufthansa (1,202) and Air France (1,065), the report says. Only low-cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet operate more flights than Turkish Airlines in Europe, he added. Istanbul Airport, the world-class facility opened in 2018 in the most popular city of Türkiye, has been instrumental in the company’s success, according to the report.
In just the first seven months of 2022, the airport received more passengers than its full 2019 figure, while major European rivals are still 10 to 15 percent below pre-pandemic levels, the report said.
In terms of international traffic, Istanbul Airport was ahead of London Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle in Paris in May and June.
