By Ceyda Caglayan
ISTANBUL, March 14 (Reuters) - SunExpress, a joint venture
between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa ,
said on Tuesday that summer bookings to Turkey spiked as of this
month after a brief drop following February's devastating
earthquakes.
The airline expects to carry more than 12 million passengers
this year, Chief Executive Max Kownatzki told Reuters on the
sidelines of a news conference in Istanbul.
Within days after the massive earthquakes that killed more
than 48,000 people and left millions homeless in Turkey,
bookings fell by 50%, Kownatzki said.
"Within the first week right after the earthquake we have
seen significant demand drops, roughly 50-52% in international
demand. But in week two, we had an uptick in demand...We saw the
hit for roughly 10 days and after those 10 days demand has
absolutely recovered," Kownatzki said.
"According to beginning of March numbers, we had 60% higher
advanced bookings than last year."
Antalya-based SunExpress carried 10.7 million passengers
mainly between Turkey and European countries last year with an
85% load factor, exceeding the pre-pandemic levels, according to
information provided at the news conference.
Turkey, facing high inflation and a chronic current account
deficit, expects to generate $56 billion in tourism revenues
this year.
Kownatzki said Sunexpress expected to achieve 1.63 billion
euros ($1.75 billion) in revenue and 80.1 million euros earnings
before interest and taxes (EBIT) this year. That compares with
revenue of 1.49 billion euros and EBIT of 85 million euros last
year.
"We have a lot of volatility on inflation, fuel and FX...
That's why we are conservative in that assumption," he said,
adding that the company was implementing successful hedging
strategies for fuel and foreign exchange.
Sunexpress will increase its seat capacity by 13% and add 26
routes this year, he said, adding that the company will operate
with a fleet of 66 aircraft this season.
($1 = 0.9327 euros)
(Writing by Ezgi Erkoyun;
Editing by Daren Butler and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Messaging: ezgi.erkoyun.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))
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