An April 13th Stock exchange filing revealed that , Turkey's Flag bearer - Turkish Airlines carried 2.5mn passengers in March, compared to 2.8mn in March 2020 , that reflects the existing air travel crisis due to covid-19 pandemic.
In Q1 / 2021 , Turkish Airlines flew around 6.4mn passengers, as against 13.5mn in the first quarter of 2020, when Covid-19 pandemic was just knocking the door. Company also revealed that, at the end of March, the company had 362 aircrafts in its inventory, as filed
Turkey officially confirmed its first coronavirus (COVID-19) case on March 11, 2020. Even after one year, a March 2021 relaxation of pandemic restrictions saw a big resurgence in the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
Also on April 13, Turkish low-cost carrier Pegasus Airlines filed in the stock exchange that its number of passengers fell 4% YoY to 1.29mn in March and 45% YoY to 3.4mn in Q1.
Also in the first quarter, the number of passengers served at Turkey’s 52 airports declined around 47% YoY to 18mn.
On April 15, Turkish Airlines said that it will run just one weekly round-trip flight to and from Russia after Moscow on April 12 , pointing to Turkey’s worsening coronavirus situation, put a block on flights to and from Turkey that will last until June 1.
For the year 2020 , Turkish Airlines reported a net loss of Turkish lira (TRY) 5.56bn ($836mn).
In another development, Turkish Airlines on Thursday (15th April) put one of its Boeing B737 Max Aircrafts back into service for the first time since it was grounded around the world following two deadly crashes.
The Turkish Airlines flight TK2138 took off from Istanbul Airport at around 10:10 a.m. with 96 passengers onboard and landed at Esenboğa Airport in the capital Ankara just before 11:00 a.m.
Picture Source : Turkish Airlines .
