Ever-expanding Turkish Cargo increased its cargo tonnage by 9.6 per cent in February despite the shrinking in the global air cargo sector as it moves towards its goal of being one of top five in the world.
The airline said it managed to rise to the seventh spot in the WACD (World Air Cargo Data) with 9.6 per cent increase in its tonnage despite the 5.8 per cent shrinkage in the air cargo market along with 5.7 per cent fall in the demand according to IATA during January and February.
Turkish Cargo’s sold tonnage by 0.6 points in the first two months of the year compared to last year and reached a growth of 4.3 per cent while increasing its cumulative market share by 0.4 points to 4.1 per cent and achieved a sustainable growth.
Turkish Airlines chairman of the board and the executive committee, İlker Aycı said: “We are happy about the continuous rise of Turkish Cargo in the global air cargo market. We can’t say that the success we achieved during the first two months of 2019 was a surprise. We continuously experience these exciting achievements especially in recent years.
“For instance, in the last two years, we rose from 12th place to 7th place after surpassing five big global air cargo brands from Europe and Far East. Especially considering that the shrinkage in the demand for the market causes gloom in the sector with disappointing numbers, this success brightens the future of Turkish Cargo even more.
“With our determination and growth strategy in the air cargo market, Turkish Cargo will be one of the top five air cargo brands in the world. I express my thanks to all my colleagues who contributed to this success.”
Earlier this month, Turkish’s belly operations started at Istanbul Airport but the freighter arm Turkish Cargo will continue its operations with Atatürk Airport and Istanbul Airport as a ‘Dual Hub’.
After the completion of Istanbul Airport’s all phases, Turkish Cargo will have a capacity of four million tonnage of cargo a year. Turkish covers 307 destinations in 124 countries with belly capacity of Turkish Airlines and additionally, operating dedicated cargo flights to 86 destinations with its fleet of freighters.
