Turkish Airlines targets traffic, finance development in 2018

After completing 2017 successfully, Turkish Airlines has now set its targets for 2018, the year in which the carrier will move its hub to the 3rd Airport of Istanbul.

According to the non-consolidated 2018 budget that was approved by the Board of Directors under the presidency of M. Ilker Ayci, Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee of Turkish Airlines, the guidance regarding the Incorporation’s targets and expectations for the year 2018 are grouped into two: Traffic development and Financial Development (Unconsolidated).

For traffic development, the total number of passengers carried is targeted to reach 74 million including 33 million on domestic routes and 41 million on international routes; while passenger load factor is expected to be in the band of 79 per cent and 80 per cent, total Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) will approximately reach to 183 billion with an increase of between five per cent and six per cent compared to 2017. Capacity (ASK) increase is expected to be 10 per cent in Turkey, nine per cent in the Middle East, six per cent in Europe, six per cent in Far East, four per cent in America and three per cent in Africa regions; and in 2018, cargo/mail carried is expected to increase by 21 per cent reaching 1.3 million tonnes.

For Financial Development, jet fuel consumption is expected to increase by nine per cent compared to 2017; average jet fuel (including fuel hedge) is expected to be $633/ton in 2018; the Incorporation is targeting to generate 11.8 billion USD of sales revenue; cost per available seat kilometer (CASK), excluding fuel, is expected to increase by between three per cent -five per cent; unconsolidated EBITDAR margin is targeted to be between 21 per cent and 22 per cent, whereas consolidated EBITDAR margin is targeted to be in the band of 23 per cent and 24 per cent.