Turkish Airlines' net profit rises over 500 pct in 2018

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's flag carrier Turkish Airlines on Tuesday announced its net profit jumped 533 percent year-on-year in 2018.

The airline’s net profit reached 4.04 billion Turkish liras ($753 million) last year, up from 639 million liras ($223 million) in 2017, said a statement issued by the flag carrier.

The carrier's operating profit also soared by 73.5 percent to 6.2 billion liras ($1.4 billion) in 2018, on an annual basis.

The company's annual revenue was 62.85 billion liras ($12.85 billion) in 2018, increasing from 39.8 billion liras ($10.95 billion) previous year.

As of the end of the last year, Turkish Airlines' total assets were around 109.1 billion liras ($20.7 billion), while its total assets were 68.6 billion liras ($18.2 billion) as of the end of 2017.

The Turkey Wealth Fund holds 49.12 percent share of the carrier, and the rest of the shares are publicly held.

The financial statement also covered Turkish Airlines' 15 subsidiaries and joint ventures, such as Turkish Technic, Turkish Cargo, Turkish Ground Services, Turkish Opet Aviation Fuels and Sun Express.

Turkish Airlines, founded in 1933, flies to 306 destinations in 124 countries with its fleet of 337 aircraft, including passenger and cargo planes.

Last year, the company carried 75.2 million passengers with a seat occupancy rate of 82 percent.

Turkish lira/the U.S. dollar exchange rate was 5.26 as of the end of 2018 and 3.77 as of the end of 2017, according to the company's statement.