Turkish Airlines reported a $233 million net profit for Q1 2023, its most for a first quarter and its seventh quarterly profit in a row.
The Middle Eastern airline's revenue hit $4.4bn, another Q1 record, with $3.6bn of it given as passenger revenue. The overall increase came in at 43% year-on-year, while the passenger segment increase was over 80%.
During the period the airline carried over 17 million passengers, with a domestic load factor of 80.1% and an international load factor of 81.4%.
"Despite the negative effects of global inflationary pressures on costs, EBITDAR, which demonstrates the cash generation ability of the company, was approximately €770 million," Turkish announced.
The result was driven by a "strong recovery on international demand" and came despite what the Middle Eastern carrier described as the "adverse impact of devastating earthquakes" which hit the country and Middle East neighbouring Syria during the period. Turkish responded to the disasters by evacuating over 400,000 people and helping transport around the same number to and from the zone, to which it lifted almost 30,000 tonnes of aid items.
"To contribute to the recovery efforts, the airline also donated 2 billion lira in cash aid to the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (AFAD) and "pledged to provide support for building 1,000 houses and employ 1,000 personnel from 1,000 families impacted by the earthquakes".
The records were proof of "its ability to navigate through a challenging operating environment ", the carrier said, adding that it increased its fleet size by 10% and its headcount, which reached 75,000 over the period, by the same percentage.
Among the highlights for the period, the carrier said, were recognition for its punctuality by aviation analysis company OAG and the reaffirmation of plans to double fleet size and passenger traffic by 2033.