Off the back of a bumper year Turkish Airlines Cargo has offered some hints as to how it will develop in the coming year – led by a new, impressive airport.
Turkish “achieved record results, carrying 1.13 million tonnes of cargo in 2017,” one of its officials told Air Cargo Week “According to WACD (World Air Cargo Data), compared with 2017, in the first quarter of 2018, the annual increase was 37.2 per cent,” the official added.
The Istanbul-headquartered carrier already has plans for the pharma, express and e-commerce business to help it grow further.
“These products will be some of Turkish Cargo’s priorities in 2018. In terms of warehouse infrastructure, we will have special areas and tailor made solutions for special needs,” the official said. Highest growth is foreseen in parcels and packets, and in the express segment.
Turkish has just opened Brussels where it aims to focus on carrying mainly time and temperature sensitive shipments such as drugs and other express products. It has also added Taipei to its roster.
“Karaganda (Kazakhstan), Tokyo (Japan), Navoi (Uzbekistan), Mexico City (Mexico) are among our targets,” the official added.
This might be small scale though compared to the opportunity mega-hub Istanbul New Airport, which will be replacing the existing Ataturk Airport, brings when it opens in October.
“With the New Airport, we will be increasing our cargo capacity to two million tonnes annually with cargo aircraft parking areas which will allow simultaneous handling of 35 wide-body freighter aircraft,” said the official.
Turkish’s target is to be one of the five largest air freight carriers in the world by 2023, with four million tonnes of carried cargo per year.
