Turkish Airlines sets sights on global top spot amid reshaped regional aviation

Turkish Airlines is gunning for the top global spot by 2033: Turkish Airlines picked up market share in March as it captured passengers displaced from GCC carriers during the war — and the flagship carrier is working on sustaining some of these gains. “If that initial demand holds up, we will increase our growth projections for the next three to five years,” Chairman Murat Seker told the Financial Times. “We are aiming for the top position,” Seker said.

The flipside? Like everyone in the industry, Turkish Airlines is now under pressure to adjust its operations due to an industry-wide jet fuel shortage caused by Hormuz disruptions, raising costs, cutting flights, and forcing some carriers to take measures as extreme as grounding parts of the fleet.

Turkish is adopting a cautious approach to frequency cuts, slashing just 21 routes from its network of 350 in a bid to make it easier to recover quickly post-conflict, Seker said. With around 40% of its fuel needs hedged at pre-conflict prices, the airline has performed better than many competitors.

Morocco’s flagship carrier may be in a similar boat: While the carrier doesn’t publish granular data, as we previously reported, Royal Air Maroc is moving to suspend 12 routes due to the surge in fuel prices, despite positive April numbers at its airport hubs. Morocco’s airports saw passenger volume surge by some 10% y-o-y last month. The cuts hit routes connecting to African capitals like Kinshasa and Brazzaville, as well as European cities including Lyon, Malaga, and Marseille.

REMEMBER- Turkish Airlines has the fundamentals to make steady gains from theconflict, with scale, solid network connectivity, and airspace stability, as we previously reported.