Turkish Cargo racks up another bumper third quarter

Turkish Airlines Cargo has posted yet another round of impressive gains, growing cargo revenues by 38.3 percent, year-over-year, to US$343 million for the third-quarter. With three months to go, Turkish Cargo is already 27 percent ahead of last year’s totals in terms of cargo tonnage carried, at 810,000 tonnes.

Over the first nine months, Turkish’s cargo revenues are up 30 percent, y-o-y, to $923 million.

Turkish Cargo said that its global market share, measured by gross revenue, has increased from 0.6 percent in 2009 to 2.1 percent in 2016. Looking ahead, the carrier has its eyes on even more of the volumes that route through the region in between major markets in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The carrier’s head of cargo, Turhan Özen, is leading a push to expand in several special cargo products and services – mainly in pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, express and mail, valuables and perishables. As a result, special cargo volumes have grown at a rate of 35 to 40 percent, y-o-y, this year. Special cargo currently accounts for 23 percent of the company’s revenue, but Özen said he hopes to increase that to 40 percent. That said, cargo operations in Q3 accounted for 11.3 percent of the carrier’s revenues, meaning that there’s still plenty of room for growth.