Turkish Cargo grabs market share in first half

Turkish Cargo increased its market share in the first half of the year on the back of its “special cargo operations”.

The Istanbul-hubbed airline saw its first half market share increase from 3.9% last year to 5.4% in 2020, according to WorldACD data, which the carrier credited to “its special cargo operations it has been maintaining by building up a global air bridge”. Data from WorldACD show that the airline’s special cargo volumes have grew by 67% year on year in the first half of 2020.

The airline said that it services for pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, dangerous goods and valuable cargo had continued uninterrupted and that it had carried 30,000 tons of medicines and nearly 10,000 tons of medical equipment between February  1 and August 31.

“Being the first air cargo brand that holds all of the three certificates, namely the “CEIV Pharma”, “CEIV Fesh” and”CEIV Live Animal”, issued by IATA, Turkish Cargo ensures protection at high standards at its special cargo storage rooms with various temperature ranges available at its facilities with a total area of 3,500 sq m at the Istanbul and the Ataturk airports.”

Airlines with access to freighters have tended to perform well in the first half of the year as pure passenger airlines have seen much of their capacity removed from the market because of the grounding of operations.

Last year, Turkish Cargo reported the highest growth rate of the top 10 freight carriers as IATA data showed traffic increased by 19.3% year on year to just over 7bn cargo tonne kms.