Turkish Airlines sees cargo revenues slide despite improved demand

Turkish Airlines recorded a decrease in revenues generated by its cargo division despite an increase in demand.
For the full-year 2015, Turkish Airlines recorded a 3.9% year-on-year decline in cargo revenues to $935m, with both its bellyhold and freighter services contributing towards the decline.
Meanwhile, its cargo and mail traffic climbed by 8.7% to 720,440 tons.
The airline didn’t provide any commentary on why revenues were down when volumes increased, but the industry suffered from yield declines last year as a result of lower oil prices and general industry overcapacity.
Turkish Cargo revealed a bit more detail when it announced its cargo volumes for 2015 in January.
It said its cargo volumes had increased by 8.1% year-on-year to 704,570 tons.
Cargo demand on flights to and from Africa recorded the largest percentage increase, jumping by 61.2% on the previous year to 97,024 tons.
Last year, it added freighter flights to Dakar and Kinshasa with A330F flights, while its passenger services to the continent have also been expanded.
Its largest business area was once again Europe, despite demand declining by 1.7% on 2014 levels to 212,527 tons.
Volumes to the Far East also declined, sliding by 0.2% to 198,557 tons, while demand on North America routes was up by 17.6% to 59,296 tons as it added freighter flights to New York, Atlanta and Chicago.
Demand on Middle East routes increased by 12.2% to 75,455 tons, to South America there was a 19.7% jump to 9,656 tons and on domestic services there was growth of 2.1% to 52,082 tons.
As well as new freighter routes to Africa and North America, the company also added services to Amsterdam, Stansted, Doha and Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, the overall airline saw revenues decline to $10.5bn in 2015 from $11.1bn during the previous year but last year’s profits jumped by 26.5% year on year to $1.1bn.